UK Law Enforcement Powers Stretch Even Further Overseas – With Worrying Implications

A recent piece of unheralded legislation, the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (COPOA), has provided UK law enforcement with significantly extended powers to compel the production of electronic data stored overseas.

Key points

• COPOA came into force on 12 February 2019 – it gives UK law enforcement agencies the means to apply for a UK court order to compel production of stored electronic data directly from a company or person based outside the UK.
• It overhauls the system previously known as Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA).
• To date, the only cooperation agreement (which is currently still in draft) is between the UK and USA so COPOA will only apply to requests between these countries...BUTit is expected that other countries will sign up to similar reciprocal arrangements (based on these terms) in the near future.