Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 3:

In page 6, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:
“Amendment of section 55 of Act of 20109. Section 55 of the Act of 2010 is amended—

(a) in subsection (4), by the substitution of “shall be retained by the designated
person” for “shall be retained by the designated person, at an office or other
premises in the State,”, and
(b) by the insertion, after subsection (7) of the following subsection:

“(7A) The records required to be kept by a designated person under this section may be kept outside the State provided that the designated person ensures that those records are produced in the State to—

(a) a member of the Garda Síochána,
(b) an authorised officer appointed under section 72,
(c) a relevant authorised officer within the meaning of section 103, or
(d) a person to whom the designated person is required to produce such
records in relation to his or her business, trade or profession,
as soon as practicable after the records concerned are requested, or where the obligation to produce the records arises under an order of a court made under section 63 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, within the period which applies to such production under the court order concerned.”.”.

Section 55 of the Act of 2010 contains the record keeping obligations, which apply to designated persons. Section 55(4) provides that such records must be retained at an office or a premises in the State. This is causing difficulties for some sectors, particularly in the financial area, in which companies are often part of a wider international group where the practice may be that documentation such as records are often retained by one member of the group in a particular location. I understand the practice of storing records, particularly electronic records on service in other states, is common in a number of industries. In addition, Ireland is itself a base for the storage of records for a number of multinationals and other companies.

The purpose of the amendment is to provide the flexibility that is required in relation to where records are stored, while also ensuring that the records are readily available to relevant authorities such as the Garda Síochána and competent authorities to carry out their functions and powers.