Geneva Conventions (Amendment) Act 1995

2 Amendment of section 6 of the 1957 Act. U.K.

(1) Section 6 of the 1957 Act shall be amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1)—

(a) for the words “Army Council” there shall be substituted the words “ Secretary of State ”; and

(b) after paragraph (c) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(d) the sign of an equilateral blue triangle on, and completely surrounded by, an orange ground, being the international distinctive sign of civil defence;

(e) any of the distinctive signals specified in Chapter III of Annex I to the first protocol, being the signals of identification for medical units and transports.”

(3) In subsection (2)—

(a) for the words “Board of Trade” there shall be substituted the words “ Secretary of State ”; and

(b) after paragraph (b) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(c) any design so nearly resembling the sign specified in subsection (1)(d) of this section as to be capable of being mistaken for that sign;

(d) any signal so nearly resembling any of the signals referred to in subsection (1)(e) of this section as to be capable of being mistaken for one of those signals.”

(4) In subsection (3)—

(a) for the words “level 3” there shall be substituted the words “ level 5 ”;

(b) after the words “goods” there shall be inserted the words “ or other article ”; and

(c) after the word “designation,” there shall be inserted the words “ sign, signal, ”.

(5) After subsection (4) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(4A) Subsection (4) of this section shall apply in relation to a design reproducing or resembling the sign specified in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section as it applies to designs reproducing or resembling an emblem specified in paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection.

For the purposes of this subsection references in subsection (4) of this section to the passing of this Act shall be construed as references to the passing of the M1 Geneva Conventions (Amendment) Act 1995.”

(6) In subsection (6)—

(a) for the words “design or wording” there shall be substituted the words “ design, wording, sign or signal ”; and

(b) for the words from “any British” to the end there shall be substituted the words “—

(a) any British ship (within the meaning of the M2 Merchant Shipping (Registration, etc.) Act 1993);

(b) any British-controlled aircraft or hovercraft (within the meaning of section 92 of the M3 Civil Aviation Act 1982 or, as the case may be, that section as applied to hovercraft by virtue of provision made under the M4 Hovercraft Act 1968).”

(7) In subsection (7)—

(a) after the word “proceedings” there shall be inserted the words “ for an offence ”; and

(b) for the words “Attorney General” there shall be substituted the words “ Director of Public Prosecutions ”.

Marginal Citations

M1 1995 c. 27.

M2 1993 c. 22.

M3 1982 c. 16.

M4 1968 c. 59.