DMBM560050 - Debt and return pursuit: foreign cases: Mutual Assistance in the Recovery of Debt (MARD) (EU States): requests for information received from other member states

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General

A request for information is often the first step of the recovery process, and will usually involve confirming a debtor’s whereabouts, financial status or their assets here in the UK.

A request for information should be made using the standard e-form.

Restrictions on providing information

You are not required to provide the information requested where either:

  • all the mandatory information you need in order to deal with the request has not been provided
  • we would not be able to get the information needed for the purposes of recovering our own debts
  • the supply of the requested information would disclose any commercial, industrial or professional secret
  • disclosure of the information would prejudice the security of the UK or otherwise be contrary to the law or public policy of the UK.

International Debt Unit, MARD team action

Review the request to check for suitability as per (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) the above restrictions.

Set up a new case (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000).(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

Request does not contain all required information

If the request doesn’t contain all the information you need in order to action it:

  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)acknowledge its receipt
  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)ask the applicant member state to provide the missing information
  • send the updated e-form to the applicant member state within seven calendar days of the receipt of the request
  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000).

On receipt of the additional information, send an updated e-form to the applicant member state to acknowledge the receipt of the additional information and deal with as below- ‘Request accepted’.

If the applicant member state can’t provide the missing information, they will send you an updated e-form and explain why it can’t be provided. If you can action the request without this additional information, deal with as above - ‘Request accepted’. If you are unable to action the request without this additional information, deal with as below - ‘Request rejected’.

Request rejected

If the request is not accepted:

  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)acknowledge its receipt
  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)explain why you can't deal with the request
  • send the updated e-form to the applicant member state within seven calendar days of the receipt of the request
  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
  • close your case.

Request accepted

If the request is accepted, you must acknowledge its receipt within seven calendar days by (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) returning the updated e-form to the applicant member state.

Review all departmental systems for the information requested by the applicant member state as per MARD SWI 2.

Where:

  • you are searching for the address of the debtor
  • all attempts to obtain the information through our normal systems have failed
  • you have reasonable grounds for believing that the information can be obtained from the taxpayers UK bank or other financial institution

send a request to Tracing and ask them to use their third party information powers to obtain the information for you. See DMBM890000 for more information.

Reply to the request by completing the relevant section of the e-form and either provide the requested information or explain why the information can’t be provided. Close your case.

If there is a delay in obtaining the information, send regular updates to the applicant member state (within a maximum of six months of acknowledging the request).

Withdrawal of request

A member state may withdraw a request for assistance at any time by sending an updated e-form(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000). On receipt of such a notification:

  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
  • close the case.