In a judgment handed down this morning, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the SFO cannot demand documents held outside the UK by a foreign company under the Criminal Justice Act 1987. It found that there was no basis for the divisional court’s finding that the SFO was entitled to such material if there was a sufficient connection between the company and the UK. Richard Kovalevsky QC, head of criminal defence at Cohen & Gresser’s London office and QC for the appellant, said the judgment has broad implications for all foreign entities under investigation by the SFO. ‘This historic decision significantly alters how the SFO can conduct extraterritorial investigations and protects foreign entities from being forced to comply with far-reaching and unlawful demands for the production of documents and electronic materials under the threat of criminal charges,’ he said.