# The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005, Article 213Z1: Application for account freezing order


(1) This article applies if—
(a) the Secretary of State has referred an external request or an external order ... in accordance with articles 213Y (action on receipt of an external request) or 213Z (action to give effect to an external order), and
(b) an enforcement officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that money held in the account specified in that external order is recoverable property.
(2) Where this article applies (but subject to article 213Z2) (restrictions on making of application under article 213Z1) the enforcement officer may apply to the relevant court for an account freezing order in relation to the account in which the money is held.
(3) For the purposes of this Part—
(a) an account freezing order is an order that, subject to any exclusions (see article 213Z5 (exclusions)), prohibits each person by or for whom the account to which the order applies is operated from making withdrawals or payments from the account;
(b) an account is operated by or for a person if the person is an account holder or a signatory or identified as a beneficiary in relation to the account.
(4) An application for an account freezing order may be made without notice if the circumstances of the case are such that notice of the application would prejudice the taking of any steps under this Part to forfeit money that is recoverable property.
(5) The money referred to in paragraph (1) may be all or part of the credit balance of the account.
(6) In this Part—
...
...
“enforcement officer” means—
(a)an officer of Revenue and Customs,
(b)a constable, or
(c)an SFO officer;
“the minimum amount” is the sum for the time being specified in section 303Z8 of the Act;
“relevant court”—
(a)in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, means a magistrates’ court,
(b)in Scotland, means the sheriff;
“relevant financial institution” has the same meaning as in section 303Z1 of the Act.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/3181/article/213Z1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/proceeds-of-crime-act-2002-external-requests-and-orders-order-2005/article-213Z1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.