Tokyo Convention Act 1967
| Year | 1967 |
Tokyo Convention Act 1967
1967 CHAPTER 52
An Act to make provision with a view to the ratification on behalf of the United Kingdom of the Convention on Offences and certain other Acts Committed on board Aircraft, signed in Tokyo on 14th September 1963, and to give effect to certain provisions relating to piracy of the Convention on the High Seas, signed in Geneva on 29th April 1958; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[14th July 1967]
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:—
1 Application of criminal law to aircraft.
(1) Any act or omission taking place on board a British-controlled aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom which, if taking place in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom, would constitute an offence under the law in force in, or in that part of, the United Kingdom shall constitute that offence:
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to any act or omission which is expressly or impliedly authorised by or under that law when taking place outside the United Kingdom.
(2) No proceedings for any offence under the law in force in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom committed on board an aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom (other than an offence under, or under any instrument made under, the Civil Aviation Acts 1949 and 1960 or the Civil Aviation (Eurocontrol) Act 1962 ) shall be instituted—
(a ) in England and Wales, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions; or
(b ) in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland;
but the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not prevent the arrest, or the issue of a warrant for the arrest, of any person in respect of any offence, or the remanding in custody or on bail of any person charged with any offence.
(3) For the purpose of conferring jurisdiction, any offence under the law in force in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom committed on board an aircraft in flight shall be deemed to have been committed in any place in the United Kingdom (or, as the case may be, in that part thereof) where the offender may for the time being be; and section 62(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1949 is hereby repealed.
2 Provisions as to extradition.
(1) For the purposes of the application of the Extradition Act 1870 to (3) of section 16 of that Act (which have effect where a person's surrender is sought in respect of a crime committed on board a vessel on the high seas which comes into any port of the United Kingdom) shall have effect also where a person's surrender is sought in respect of a crime committed on board an aircraft in flight which lands in the United Kingdom, but as if in the said paragraph (3) for references to the port where the vessel lies there were substituted references to the place at which the person whose surrender is sought is disembarked.
(2) Sections 17 and 22 of the said Act of 1870 (which relate to the extent of that Act) shall apply to subsection (1) of this section as if that subsection were included in that Act.
3 Powers of commander of aircraft.
(1) The provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of this section shall have effect for the purposes of any proceedings before any court in the United Kingdom.
(2) If the commander of an aircraft in flight, wherever that aircraft may be, has reasonable grounds to believe in respect of any person on board the aircraft—
(a ) that the person in question has done or is about to do any act on the aircraft while it is in flight which jeopardises or may jeopardise—
(i) the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft; or
(ii) good order and discipline on board the aircraft; or
(b ) that the person in question has done on the aircraft while in flight any act which in the opinion of the commander is a serious offence under any law in force in the country in which the aircraft is registered, not being a law of a political nature or based on racial or religious discrimination,
then, subject to subsection (4) of this section, the commander may take with respect to that person such reasonable measures, including restraint of his person, as may be necessary—
(i) to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft; or
(ii) to maintain good order and discipline on board the aircraft; or
(iii) to enable the commander to disembark or deliver that person in accordance with subsection (5) of this section;
and for the purposes of paragraph (b ) of this subsection any British-controlled aircraft shall be deemed to be registered in the United Kingdom whether or not it is in fact so registered and whether or not it is in fact registered in some other country.
(3) Any member of the crew of an aircraft and any other person on board the aircraft may, at the request or with the authority of the commander of the aircraft, and any such member shall if so required by that commander, render assistance in restraining any person whom the commander is entitled under subsection (2) of this section to restrain; and at any time when the aircraft is in flight any such member or other person may, without obtaining the authority of the commander, take with respect to any person on board the aircraft any measures such as are mentioned in the said subsection (2) which he has reasonable grounds to believe are immediately necessary to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft.
(4) Any restraint imposed on any person on board an aircraft under the powers conferred by the foregoing provisions of this section shall not be continued after the time when the aircraft first thereafter ceases to be in flight unless before or as soon as is reasonably practicable after that time the commander of the aircraft causes notification of the fact that a person on board the aircraft is under restraint and of the reasons therefor to be sent to an appropriate authority of the country in which the aircraft so ceases to be in flight, but subject to such notification may be continued after that time—
(a ) for any period (including the period of any further flight) between that time and the first occasion thereafter on which the commander is able with any requisite consent of the appropriate authorities to disembark or deliver the person under restraint in accordance with subsection (5) of this section; or
(b ) if the person under restraint agrees to continue his journey under restraint on board that aircraft.
(5) The commander of an aircraft—
(a ) if in the case of any person on board the aircraft he has reasonable grounds—
(ii) to believe that it is necessary so to do in order to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft or to maintain good order and discipline on board the aircraft,
may disembark that person in any country in which that aircraft may be; and
(b ) if in the case of any person on board the aircraft he has reasonable grounds to believe as mentioned in subsection (2)(b ) of this section, may deliver that person—
(i) in the United Kingdom, to a constable or immigration officer; or
(ii) in any other country which is a Convention country, to an officer having functions corresponding to the functions in the United Kingdom either of a constable or of an immigration officer.
(6) The commander of an aircraft—
(a ) if he disembarks any person in pursuance of subsection (5)(a ) of this section, in the case of a British-controlled aircraft, in any country or, in the case of any other aircraft, in the United Kingdom, shall report the fact of, and the reasons for, that disembarkation to—
(i) an appropriate authority in the country of disembarkation; and
(ii) the appropriate diplomatic or consular office of the country of nationality of that person;
(b ) if he intends to deliver any person in accordance with subsection (5)(b ) of this section in the United Kingdom or, in the case of a British-controlled aircraft, in any other country which is a Convention country, shall before or as soon as reasonably practicable after landing give notification of his intention and of the reasons therefor—
(i) where the country in question is the United Kingdom, to a constable or immigration officer or, in the case of any other country, to an officer having functions corresponding to the functions in the United Kingdom either of a constable or of an immigration officer;
(ii) in either case to the appropriate diplomatic or consular office of the country of nationality of that person;
and any commander of an aircraft who without reasonable cause fails to comply with the requirements of this subsection shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
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