Criminal Records (Exchange of Information) Act 2019

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Interpretation

1. (1) In this Act—

“Central Authority” means the central authority designated in the State under section 2 ;

“central authority”, in relation to a Member State, means a central authority designated in that Member State in accordance with Article 3 of the Framework Decision;

“conviction”, in relation to a person, means the conviction by a court of a natural person of an offence or, in the case of an appeal (whether against conviction or sentence, or both), the final decision of a court of the appeal or the withdrawal of the appeal, as recorded in the Criminal Records Database or, as the case may be, the criminal record of a Member State;

“court” means—

(a) in relation to a conviction of a person in the State, any court in the State exercising criminal jurisdiction and includes a Special Criminal Court but does not include a court martial, or

(b) in relation to a conviction of a person in a Member State or a third country, any court in the Member State or, as the case may be, third country exercising criminal jurisdiction;

“criminal record”, in relation to a Member State, means, subject to section 6(5), the national register or registers in the Member State containing a record of convictions in accordance with its national law;

“Criminal Records Database” means the database maintained by the Garda Síochána that contains a record of convictions;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005 ;

“Framework Decision” means Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA of 26 February 2009 on the organisation and content of the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record between Member States, the text of which in the English language is for convenience of reference set out in Schedule 1 ;

“Member State” means a Member State of the European Union other than the State;

“requesting Member State” shall be construed in accordance with section 7;

“third country” means a country or territory other than the State or a Member State.

(2) A word or expression that is used in this Act and is also used in the Framework Decision has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in this Act as it has in the Framework Decision.