62.— (1) Where it appears to a judge at a sitting of any court that criminal proceedings have been instituted or a criminal investigation is taking place in the State, the judge may issue a letter (a “letter of request”) requesting assistance in obtaining from a person in a designated state such evidence as is specified in the letter for use in the proceedings or investigation.

(2) Application for a letter of request may be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions or a person charged in any such proceedings that have been instituted.

(3) The letter of request shall be sent to the Central Authority for transmission to the appropriate authority.

(4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) to (3), where proceedings in respect of an offence have been instituted or a criminal investigation is taking place, the Director of Public Prosecutions may issue and transmit a letter of request directly to the appropriate authority.

(5) The letter of request shall include—

(a) a statement that the evidence is required for the purpose of criminal proceedings or a criminal investigation,

(b) a brief description of the conduct constituting the offence concerned, and

(c) any other available information that may assist the appropriate authority in complying with the request.

(6) Evidence obtained by virtue of this section shall not, without the consent of the appropriate authority, be used for any purpose other than that permitted by the relevant international instrument or specified in the letter of request.

(7) When any such evidence is no longer required for that purpose (or for any other purpose for which such consent has been obtained), it shall be returned to the appropriate authority unless the authority indicates that it need not be returned.

(8) A statement of the evidence of a witness—

(a) taken in accordance with a letter of request, and

(b) certified by or on behalf of the court, tribunal or authority by which it was taken to be an accurate statement of the evidence,

is admissible, without further proof, in proceedings relating to the offence concerned as evidence of any fact stated therein of which oral evidence would be so admissible.

(9) A court, when considering whether any evidence taken from a person pursuant to a letter of request should be excluded in the exercise of its discretion to exclude evidence otherwise admissible, shall, where appropriate, have regard to—

(a) whether the law of the state concerned allowed the person and any other party concerned, when the evidence was being taken, to be legally represented and cross-examined, and

(b) any other respects in which the taking of the evidence may have differed from the taking of comparable evidence in the State.

(10) Nothing in this section prevents the Director of Public Prosecutions from issuing a letter of request for assistance in obtaining a statement of evidence or taking possession of material evidence in a designated state for the purposes of criminal proceedings or a criminal investigation where the witness or witnesses concerned will give evidence in those proceedings or any proceedings that may be instituted after the investigation.

(11) In this section, “appropriate authority”, in relation to the place where the evidence is to be obtained, means—

(a) a court or tribunal specified in the letter of request and exercising jurisdiction in that place, or

(b) any other authority recognised by the government of the state concerned as the appropriate authority for receiving the letter.