XYZ (acting as liquidator of ABC Ltd) v HM Revenue and Customs and another [2010] All ER (D) 139 (Jun)
The Court of Appeal in BOC Ltd and another v Instrument Technology Ltd and others [2002] QB 537 had based its conclusion mainly on the simple point that the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 had been concerned with criminal proceedings only, not with civil proceedings; therefore it could not have been intended to affect civil proceedings.
The argument that there might be legal issues under national law which would prevent the disclosure of documents and information for the purposes of a criminal investigation, if they might be used for other purposes, including civil litigation, had not been advanced before the Court of Appeal. Therefore, although the BOC judgment gave rise to difficulties, it could not be said that it had been wrongly decided.
It would be desirable that the case should be reconsidered at an appellant level and that if the issue arose again in the course of ordinary civil litigation, the secretary of state should
