Chemical Weapons Act 1996
| Year | 1996 |
Chemical Weapons Act 1996
1996 CHAPTER 6
An Act to promote the control of chemical weapons and of certain toxic chemicals and precursors and for connected purposes.
[3rd April 1996]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Introduction
1 General interpretation.
(1) Chemical weapons are—
(a) toxic chemicals and their precursors;
(b) munitions and other devices designed to cause death or harm through the toxic properties of toxic chemicals released by them;
(c) equipment designed for use in connection with munitions and devices falling within paragraph (b).
(2) Subsection (1) is subject to sections 2(2) and (3), 10(1) and 11(2) (by virtue of which an object is not a chemical weapon if the use or intended use is only for permitted purposes).
(3) Permitted purposes are—
(a) peaceful purposes;
(b) purposes related to protection against toxic chemicals;
(c) legitimate military purposes;
(d) purposes of enforcing the law.
(4) Legitimate military purposes are all military purposes except those which depend on the use of the toxic properties of chemicals as a method of warfare in circumstances where the main object is to cause death, permanent harm or temporary incapacity to humans or animals.
(5) A toxic chemical is a chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, permanent harm or temporary incapacity to humans or animals and the origin, method of production and place of production are immaterial.
(6) A precursor is a chemical reactant which takes part at any stage in the production (by whatever method) of a toxic chemical.
(7) References to an object include references to a substance.
(8) The Convention is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, signed at Paris on 13 January 1993.
(9) This section applies for the purposes of this Act.
Chemical weapons
2 Use etc. of chemical weapons.
(1) No person shall—
(a) use a chemical weapon;
(b) develop or produce a chemical weapon;
(c) have a chemical weapon in his possession;
(d) participate in the transfer of a chemical weapon;
(e) engage in military preparations, or in preparations of a military nature, intending to use a chemical weapon.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) an object is not a chemical weapon if the person uses the object only for permitted purposes and in deciding whether permitted purposes are intended the types and quantities of objects shall be taken into account.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), (c), (d) or (e) an object is not a chemical weapon if the person does the act there mentioned with the intention that the object will be used only for permitted purposes and in deciding whether permitted purposes are intended the types and quantities of objects shall be taken into account.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d) a person participates in the transfer of an object if—
(a) he acquires or disposes of the object or enters into a contract to acquire or dispose of it, or
(b) he makes arrangements under which another person acquires or disposes of the object or another person enters into a contract to acquire or dispose of it.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4)—
(a) to acquire an object is to buy it, hire it, borrow it or accept it as a gift;
(b) to dispose of an object is to sell it, let it on hire, lend it or give it.
(6) In proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(a), (c) or (d) relating to an object it is a defence for the accused to prove—
(a) that he neither knew nor suspected nor had reason to suspect that the object was a chemical weapon, or
(b) that he knew or suspected it to be a chemical weapon and as soon as reasonably practicable after he first so knew or suspected he took all reasonable steps to inform the Secretary of State or a constable of his knowledge or suspicion.
(7) Nothing in subsection (6) prejudices any defence which it is open to a person charged with an offence under this section to raise apart from that subsection.
(8) A person contravening this section is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.
3 Application of section 2.
(1) Section 2 applies to acts done in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
(2) So far as it applies to acts done outside the United Kingdom, section 2 applies to United Kingdom nationals, Scottish partnerships, and bodies incorporated under the law of any part of the United Kingdom.
(3) Her Majesty may by Order in Council extend the application of section 2, so far as it applies to acts done outside the United Kingdom, to bodies incorporated under the law of any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or any colony.
(4) For the purposes of this section a United Kingdom national is an individual who is—
(a) a British citizen, a British Dependent Territories citizen, a British National (Overseas) or a British Overseas citizen,
(b) a person who under the British Nationality Act 1981 is a British subject, or
(c) a British protected person within the meaning of that Act.
(5) Proceedings for an offence committed under section 2 outside the United Kingdom may be taken, and the offence may for incidental purposes be treated as having been committed, in any place in the United Kingdom.
4 Suspicious objects.
(1) If—
(a) the Secretary of State has grounds to suspect that an object is a chemical weapon, and
(b) at least one person falls within subsection (2),
the Secretary of State may serve on any person falling within that subsection a copy of a notice falling within subsection (3).
(2) The persons falling within this subsection are—
(a) any person who appears to the Secretary of State to have the object in his possession, and
(b) any person not falling within paragraph (a) and who appears to the Secretary of State to have an interest which the Secretary of State believes is materially affected by the notice.
(3) A notice falling within this subsection is a notice which—
(a) describes the object and states its location;
(b) states that the Secretary of State suspects that the object is a chemical weapon and gives the reasons for his suspicion;
(c) states that he is considering whether to secure its destruction under sections 5 to 7;
(d) states that any person may make representations that the object is not a chemical weapon;
(e) states that a person on whom the notice is served and who has the object in his possession must not relinquish possession before a date specified in the notice.
5 Power to remove or immobilise objects.
(1) If the Secretary of State has reasonable cause to believe that—
(a) an object is on premises to which the public has access or which are occupied by a person who consents to action being taken under this subsection, and
(b) the object is a chemical weapon,
the Secretary of State may authorise a person to enter the premises and to search them.
(2) If—
(a) a justice of the peace is satisfied on information on oath that there is reasonable cause to believe that an object is on premises (of whatever nature) and that it is a chemical weapon, or
(b) in Scotland a justice, within the meaning of section 307 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 , is satisfied by evidence on oath as mentioned in paragraph (a),
he may issue a warrant in writing authorising a person acting under the authority of the Secretary of State to enter the premises, if necessary by force, at any time within one month from the time of the issue of the warrant and to search them.
(3) A person who acts under an authorisation given under subsection (1) or (2) may take with him such other persons and such equipment as appear to him to be necessary.
(4) If a person enters premises under an authorisation given under subsection (1) or (2) and the object is found there he may make the object safe and—
(a) he may seize and remove it if it is reasonably practicable to do so, or
(b) he may in any other case affix a warning to the object or to something in a conspicuous position near the object, stating that the object is not to be moved or interfered with before a date specified in the warning.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4) an object is made safe if, without being destroyed, it is prevented from being an immediate danger (as where a fuse is neutralised or the object is smothered in foam).
(6) The powers conferred on an authorised person under this section shall only be exercisable, if the authorisation under subsection (1) or the warrant so provides, in the presence of a constable.
(7) This section applies whether or not any copy of a notice has been served under section 4.
6 Power to destroy removed objects.
(1) This section applies if an object is removed from premises under section 5, and for the purposes of this section—
(a) the first six-month period is the period of six months beginning with the day after the removal;
(b) the second six-month period is...
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