Commentary on Sections
Section 43: Port and border controls: power to examine goods
227.Section 43 introduces Schedule 8.
228.Paragraph 1 of Schedule 8 to the Act amends Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 by inserting five new sub-paragraphs after paragraph 9(2) which expressly provide for the locations in which any examination of goods under paragraph 9 may take place.
229.New sub-paragraph (2A) of paragraph 9 provides that the reference in sub-paragraph (2)(a) to goods about to leave Great Britain or Northern Ireland on a ship includes goods which are held at premises operated by a “sea cargo agent” and are to be delivered to a place in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for carriage on a ship. Paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 8 provides that “sea cargo agent” has the meaning given by section 41(1) of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990.
230.New sub-paragraph (2B) of paragraph 9 provides that the reference in sub-paragraph (2)(b) to goods about to leave any place in Great Britain or Northern Ireland on an aircraft includes goods which are held at premises operated by an “air cargo agent” and are to be delivered to a place in Great Britain or Northern Ireland for carriage by an aircraft. Paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 8 provides that “air cargo agent” has the meaning given by section 21F(1) of the Aviation Security Act 1982.
231.The effect of these two new sub-paragraphs is to ensure that the Schedule 7 goods examination power can be used to examine goods held in such premises which are not immediately about to leave Great Britain or Northern Ireland but are held by air and sea cargo agents pending the goods’ departure.
232.New sub-paragraph (2C) expressly limits the locations in which the Schedule 7 power can be exercised to (a) ports; (b) air and sea cargo agents’ premises; (c) “transit sheds” (paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 8 provides that this term has the meaning given by section 25A of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979); and (d) any place which the Secretary of State has designated as a place in which goods can be examined under paragraph 9 of Schedule 7.
233.“Transit sheds” are temporary storage facilities, approved by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, which are used to hold goods which have been imported and not yet cleared out of charge. They include facilities which are beyond port boundaries so new sub-paragraph (2C)(c) clarifies that Schedule 7 goods examinations can take place outside the perimeter of a port if in a “transit shed”.
234.New sub-paragraph (2C)(d) provides another means by which the power can be used in respect of goods beyond port boundaries. The designation power caters for the possibility that some goods which examining officers wish to examine are stored outside the perimeter of a port, and not in a transit shed or at the premises of an air or sea cargo agent (for example, in distribution depots). The power is only exercisable if the Secretary of State reasonably believes that it is necessary to designate that place in order for examining officers to be able to exercise their functions under paragraph 9. The obligation to publish a list of designations under new sub-paragraph (2E) ensures transparency as to which designated locations the Schedule 7 goods examination power may be exercised.
235.Paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 8 ensures there are powers for examining officers to enter premises operated by an air or sea cargo agent, transit sheds, and designated examination locations.
236.Paragraph 2 of Schedule 8 ensures that the protection from interception afforded to postal communications in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”) does not restrict the use of the paragraph 9 power in respect of postal packets. The section inserts a new subsection (3B) into section 3 of RIPA. This makes it clear that there is lawful authority for examinations of postal packets carried out under Schedule 7.
237.Paragraph 3 of Schedule 8 has the effect of ensuring that in cases where examining officers examine postal items under paragraph 9 of Schedule 7, this does not infringe the “inviolability of mails” principle in section 104(3) of the Postal Services Act 2000 (the principle that mail-bags, packets in the post and their contents, which are not the property of the Crown, enjoy the same immunity from examination, seizure or detention, as if they were the property of the Crown).
