§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will reconsider proposals to amend the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 to allow the importation of deterrent products using pepper against attacks.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 provides the powers for Customs to enforce the prohibition of any goods on their importation.
Devices capable of discharging a noxious substance are classed as prohibited weapons under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968. Such weapons may be imported only under the authority of an import licence issued by the Department of Trade and Industry to importers who are authorised by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to possess them. If such weapons are imported without a licence, Customs seize them under section 49(1)(b) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. We consider that spray devices, which are designed to discharge pepper into a person's eyes and face in order temporarily to incapacitate them, are prohibited weapons under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968. They could be used effectively in crime and it would not be in the public interest to permit their importation or possession.