Deciding how best to respond to a disclosure notice can involve a lot of work, and the consideration of various important factors.
Very often a key task for the recipient will be to establish whether they possess the information the notice requests.
This may be straightforward. For example: if the notice relates to a single transaction, then any relevant information or material maybe easily identified, secured and, if responsive to the order, disclosed to law enforcement.
The same may not be true if a request is more wide-ranging and nebulous.
Disclosure notices often target a broad range of assets or transactions which may date from a long time ago or stretch over a long period.
In these cases, the requesting enforcement agency’s timetable for complying with the terms of the notice may be wholly unrealistic.
Depending on the facts of the matter, there may be scope for coming to an agreement with law enforcement by which the timetable for compliance is modified.
It is a criminal offence to falsify, conceal, destroy, or dispose of documents relevant to the investigation, or to permit this to happen. It is therefore vital, when responding to a disclosure notice, to take steps to preserve and secure potentially relevant material.