HL Deb 22 July 1988 vol 499 cc1642-3

193 Clause 130, page 89, line 37, at end insert— '(4A) It shall be a defence for any person charged in respect of any conduct of his relating to a weapon to which this section applies—

  1. (a) with an offence under subsection (1) above; or
  2. (b) with an offence under section 50(2) or (3) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (improper importation),
to prove that his conduct was only for the purposes of functions carried out on behalf of the Crown or of a visiting force.

(4B) In this section the reference to the Crown includes the Crown in right of Her Majesty's Government in Northern Ireland; and visiting force" means any body, contingent or detachment of the forces of a country—

  1. (a) mentioned in subsection (1)(a) of section I of the Visiting Forces Act 1952; or
  2. (b) designated for the purposes of any provision of that Act by Order in Council under subsection (2) of that section,
which is present in the United Kingdom (including United Kingdom territorial waters) or in any place to which subsection (4C) below applies on the invitation of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.

(4C) This subsection applies to any place on, under or above an installation in a designated area within the meaning of section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 or any waters within 500 metres of such an installation.

(4D) It shall be a defence for any person charged in respect of any conduct of his relating to a weapon to which this section applies—

  1. (a) with an offence under subsection (1) above; or
    2. 1643
  2. (b) with an offence under section 50(2) or (3) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979,
to prove that the conduct in question was only for the purpose of making the weapon available to a museum or gallery to which this subsection applies.

(4E) If a person acting on behalf of a museum or gallery to which subsection (4D) above applies is charged with hiring or lending a weapon to which this section applies, it shall be a defence for him to prove that he had reasonable grounds for believing that the person to whom he lent or hired it would use it only for cultural, artistic or educational purposes.

(4F) Subsection (4D) above applies to a museum or gallery only if it does not distribute profits.

(4G) In this section "museum or gallery" includes any institution which has as its purpose, or one of its purposes, the preservation, display and interpretation of material of historical, artistic or scientific interest and gives the public access to it.'

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 193.

The amendment provides two statutory defences to the general offences created by Clause 130. New subsections (4A) to (4C) provide a defence where the weapon is required for the purposes of the Crown or a visiting force. I can assure your Lordships that we are not expecting to see police officers or members of the armed forces equipped with prohibited weapons. We simply wish to provide for the situation in which, for example, the forensic science service may need to conduct comparative tests on an example of a weapon which it is suspected has been used to commit a crime. Or the police or the forces might sometimes need to evaluate the effects of a particular weapon.

New subsections (4D) to (4G) provide an exemption for museums and people who undertake weapons transactions with museums for the purposes of exhibitions and so on. The amendment will allow museums to conduct transactions between themselves and to loan out the specified weapons for cultural, artistic and educational purposes. The terms of the amendment have been agreed with the museum world.

Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 193.—(Earl Ferrers.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.