§ Amendment made: No. 9, in page 9, line 27, leave out from beginning to 'may' in line 31 and insert 'The High Court'.—[Mr. Archie Hamilton.]
§ Mr. MellorI beg to move amendment No. 22, in page 10, line 23, leave out 'state' and insert 'country'.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendment No. 23.
§ Mr. MellorThe amendment is intended simply to make the terminology of clause 7 fully consistent with that in clause 17, so that there is no possibility of dispute about the relative meanings of "state" and "country". We discovered that state and country had been used when one of those nouns alone would have done. We have opted for country for reasons which elude me, but I am sure that they are extremely good.
Amendment No. 23 is intended to bring the provisions relating to charging orders into line with those relating to restraint orders by specifying that an order must be discharged when the proceedings against the drug traffickers are concluded. A charging order is made only to secure payment of sums due, or which might become due, under a confiscation order: it is patently right that if the proceedings are discontinued, or if a confiscation is not made or is satisfied by payments from other sources, the charging order has no further purpose and must be discharged. It is a tidying-up which I hope shows our punctilliousness on these matters.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Amendment made: No. 23, in page 10, line 36, after `if', insert
§ `the proceedings for the offences are concluded or'. — [Mr. Archie Hamilton.]