The head of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has described measures to increase powers of investigation of criminal funds as "a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
Prof Brice Dickson was appearing before an ad-hoc Assembly committee set up to consider the Financial Investigations Order (NI), 2001, which will increase the powers of police and customs to seize criminal assets.
He told the committee a balance had to be struck between the rights of the individual and the rights of the community.
"We wish to fight crime and go after the proceeds of crime, but the response to that challenge must be proportionate. There must not be a sledgehammer to crack a nut," he said.
Prof Dickson said he was concerned that the legislation, when passed, would apply only to the North.
"Why should it go further than legislation that exists in the rest of the United Kingdom?" he asked, adding that the British government had failed to consult the commission.
Prof Dickson was in turn accused of championing the cause of criminals. Mr Sammy Wilson of the DUP said he was paying lip service to the need to fight crime.