Court of Appeal Quashes NCA’s Decision on Uyghur Cotton Investigation

  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Library
  4. /
  5. Court of Appeal Quashes NCA’s Decision on Uyghur Cotton Investigation

The Court of Appeal examined whether the National Crime Agency (NCA) misdirected itself in law by deciding not to investigate alleged offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) regarding cotton products from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. The World Uyghur Congress (Appellant) argued that the NCA wrongly believed it was necessary to identify specific criminal property before commencing an investigation and misinterpreted the legal exemption concerning adequate consideration within a supply chain. The High Court initially upheld the NCA’s decision, but the Court of Appeal found that the NCA’s decision letter implied an erroneous legal approach. The Court concluded that the NCA’s decision was based on a fundamental legal misunderstanding, leading to the quashing of the decision and the case being remitted to the NCA for reconsideration .