Central Authority: making and receiving requests

(1) For the purposes, a central authority is established and the Attorney General is designated as the central authority. (2) The central authority shall exercise such functions as are conferred upon him by this Act, including the following– (a) to make and receive requests and to execute, or arrange for the execution of, requests; (b) where necessary, to certify or authenticate, or arrange for the certification and authentication of, any documents or other material supplied in response to a request; (c) to take practical measures to facilitate the orderly and expeditious disposition of (d) to communicate and agree on conditions related to requests and to take such measures as necessary to ensure compliance with those conditions; (e) to make any arrangements considered necessary to transmit any material gathered in response to a request to the competent authority of the requesting State or to authorize any other agency or authority to do so; and (f) to carry out such other functions as provided for by this Act or which may be10 (i) necessary for effective assistance to be provided or received; or (ii) prescribed. (3) In the case of a request received by an agency or authority in Belize other than the central authority– (a) the request shall be referred as soon as possible to the central authority; (b) the request, or action taken in response to it, is not invalid only for the reason that the central authority did not receive the request directly from the foreign State; and (c) a Magistrate or a Judge may not reject the request on the grounds that the central authority did not receive it directly from the foreign State.