Section 29 – Power to search vehicles under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 (c.11)
141.This section extends paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 7 to the TACT to allow an examining officer (i.e. a constable, an immigration officer or a customs officer) to search a vehicle at a port which is on a ship or aircraft, or which the examining officer reasonably believes has been or is about to be on a ship or aircraft for the purposes of determining whether a person the examining officer is questioning under paragraph 2 of Schedule 7 falls within section 40(1)(b) of the TACT. A person falls within section 40(1)(b) of the TACT if he is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. At the moment an examining officer does not have the power to search vehicles in these circumstances, even though he does have the power to search vehicles in the Northern Ireland border area (see paragraph 8(2) of Schedule 7). The definition of vehicle in section 121 of the TACT (which provides that “vehicle” includes an aircraft, hovercraft, train or vessel) does not extend to Schedule 7.
