HM Revenue & Customs
Complaints, FOI & DPA Team
s1177
PO Box 198
Newcastle
NE98 1ZZ
Phone 03000 567151
Fax 03000 577655Email: [name of civil servant] @hmrc gsi.gov.uk
Date: 17 August 2015
Our Ref: [FOI nnnn/15]Email: [email address]
Dear [name]
Request for information under the Freedom of lnformation Act 2000 (FOIA)
Thank you for your request, which was received on '19 July 2015, for the following
information:"Copies of the full text of the 80 "Writs of Assistance" which are currently available for use by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern lreland, the underCustoms and Excise Management Act 1979 section 161
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/2/section/161or other equivalent legal powers in force prior to the Customs and Excise Management Act
1979, in the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll.N.B. This is NOT a request for any sensitive details of any any ongoing investigations."
I am answering under the terms of the Freedom of lnformation Act 2000 (FOIA).
Writs are issued at the commencement of a Monarch's reign and are issued.by-the courts of the three UK jurisdlctions, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern lreland The wording,
granting the authority to use the power, is the same on all writs.The annex is reproduced here for your reference.
lf you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by writing to HMRC FOI Team, Room 1C/23,100 Parliament Street, London SWIA 2BQ or e-mailing
foi.review@hmrc.qsi.gov.uk Youmust request a review within 2 months of the date of this letter. lt would assist our review if you set out which aspects of the reply concern you and
why you are dissatisfied.lf you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The lnformation Commissioner will not usually
consider a case unless you have exhausted the internal review procedure provided by HMRC. He can be contacted at The lnformation Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.Yours sincerely
[name of civil servant]
(by e-mail)
Annex
Elizabeth the Second, BY THE GRACE OF GOD of Great Britain, lreland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Queen, Defender of the Faith To all and singular Our Officers
and Ministerse who now or hereafter shall have any office, power or authority derived from or under the Commissioners of Our Admiralty or Our Lord High Admiral of Our United
Kingdom for the time being; as also all and every Our Vice-Admirals, Justices of the Peace, Provosts, Sheriffs, Constables, Bailiffs and all other Our Officers and Subjects whomsoever
within every City, Burgh, Town and County of Scotland, and the lslands and Territories thereto belonging; and to every of you; Greeting. Whereas by Commission or Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Our Realm, bearing date at Westminster the First day of November in the first year of Our Reign, Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir William Dawson Croft, Knight
Commander of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Knight Commander of Our Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Companion of Our Most Eminent Order of the lndian
Empire, companion of our Royar Victorian Order, Arthur Douglas Owen, Esquire, Companion of our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Charles William Hardisty, Esquire,
Companion of our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Arthur Wood Taylor, Esquire, and Francis Noel Roberts, Esquire, Companion of Our Most Excellent order of the British
Empire, were constituted, appointed and assigned to be Commissioners for and during Our pleasure, for the collection and for the management of Our Revenue and Customs and Excise
in and throughout the whole of Our United Kingdom; and by the said Commission or Letters Patent is given and granted unto the said Commissioners full power and authority
respectively to do and execute all matters and things, which by any Act or Acts of Parliament, or by any Law, Usage or Custom for the time being in force, the Commissioners
of Our Customs and Excise are or may be authorised and empowered to do, to the end that all and singular the duties of Customs and Excise and also all and every the Sums of Money
and other premises may be duly paid and answered.We therefore strictly enjoin and command you and every one of you that, all excuses apart, you and every one of you permit and suffer the said Sir William Dawson Croft, Arthur
Douglas Owen, Charles William Hardisty, Arhur Wood Taylor and Francis Noel Roberts, or their Successors in office as Commissioners of Our Customs and Excise and the Deputies,
Ministers, Servants and other Officers of them the said Commissioners, or of their Successors in office as aforesaid, from time to time as they shall think proper, on any day,
as well by night as by day, but not between the hours of 11 o'clock at night and 5 o'clock in the morning except in the company of a Constable, to enter any building-or place in which
there are reasonable grounds to suspect that any thing liable to forefeiture under the Customs or Excise Acts is kept or concealed, there to search for, seize, and detain or remove any
such thing and, so far as is reasonably necessary for the purpose of such entry, search, seizure, detention or removal, to break open any door, window or container, and to force or
remove any other impediment or obstruction; and further to do and execute all things which of right and according to the Laws and Statutes in force in this behalf shall be to be done.And we further strictly enjoin and command you, and every one of you, that to the said Sir William Dawson Croft, Arlhur Douglas Owen, Charles William Hardisty, Arthur Wood Taylor
and Francis Noel Roberts, Our said Commissioners, and to all and every person or persons who hereafter shall be constituted, appointed and assigned to collect and manage Our
Customs and Excise in and throughout Scotland, and the lslands and Territories thereunto belonging, and to their Deputies, Ministers and Servants, and other Officers, and each of
them, you and every one of you, from time to time be aiding, assisting and helping in the execution of the premises as is meet, and this you and any of you are in nowise to omit at
your perils
This Writ of Assistance is in effect a General Warrant, of the sort which helped to foment the American Revoloution legal power of entry, search and seizure, of anywhere and everywhere in the United Kingdom, and throughout Scotland, which needs no Magistrate or Judge.
The *only* restraint on HMRC is that at night i.e. between 11pm and 5am, andy such raids must be accompanied by a Constable i.e. a Police Officer.
HMRC appears to escape any financial liability for any damage caused by such forced entry or seizure.
Incredibly these Writs of Assistance last for the reign of the Monarch plus another 6 months
These powers surely cannot be compliant with either the Human Rights ACt , or the European Convention on Human Rights, ot the European Charter, all of which
require *proportionality* and a definate time limit (e.g. a month or 6 months etc.) to a warrant etc. before it needs to be reviewed and renewed.
What is so wrong with HMRC having to to apply for a time and specific location limited search warrant under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, like the Police have to ?
