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Home Office minister Baroness Neville-Jones has defended the government's plans to opt in to an EU order allowing foreign police to request evidence held in the UK.
Home secretary Theresa May had informed the Commons that the coalition government had formally indicated that it wished to opt in to the European Investigation Order (EIO)
During oral questions in the Lords on Tuesday, Baroness Neville-Jones told peers: "We believe that opting into the EIO is in the interests of justice. It does not transfer any jurisdiction, which is what many might have feared."
However, Tory peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts suggested that the government had signed a "blank cheque" by opting in to the scheme without seeing the final shape of the document.
He said the key problem with the order "there is no agreed basic standard across Europe for pre-trial evidence gathering and analysis, no implementation of basic minimum procedural defence safeguards and no coherent data protection regime".
Lord Hodgson suggested that such differences would lead to an "inequality of arms between defence and prosecution, and that will cover important areas such as proportionality, extraterritoriality and double jeopardy".
He added: "Given this, would it not have been better for us not to opt in, bearing in mind that we cannot opt out once we have opted in, until we saw the final shape of the document and could be certain that its contents would provide satisfactory safeguards for our civil liberties."
In response, Baroness Neville Jones said that the order was based on system of mutual legal assistance already in place.
She told peers: "One of the main innovations that will take place as a result of the EIO; setting deadlines for the receipt of evidence that is sent from one country to another. That is one of current defects of mutual legal assistance. In other respects, the EIO does not change the present regime."
Shadow Home Office minister Lord Brett welcomed the decision by the government, however said that there should be "greater consideration of the rights of the suspect, and should this not include judicial scrutiny at both the issuing and executing stages".
The Home Office minister said there are "certainly some reservations” about the operation of mutual legal assistance.
She added: "Some of the matters that we are reviewing include the reservations expressed about the operation of mutual legal assistance."
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