Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019

Destruction and retention of fingerprints and samples etc: United Kingdom

44 (1) Paragraph 43 material may be retained indefinitely in the case of a detainee who—

(a) has previously been convicted of a recordable offence (other than a single exempt conviction), or an offence in Scotland which is punishable by imprisonment, or

(b) is so convicted before the end of the period within which the material may be retained by virtue of this paragraph.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1)—

(a) the reference to a recordable offence includes an offence under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom where the act constituting the offence would constitute—

(i) a recordable offence under the law of England and Wales if done there, or

(ii) a recordable offence under the law of Northern Ireland if done there,

(and, in the application of sub-paragraph (1) where a person has previously been convicted, this applies whether or not the act constituted such an offence when the person was convicted);

(b) the reference to an offence in Scotland which is punishable by imprisonment includes an offence under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom where the act constituting the offence would constitute an offence under the law of Scotland which is punishable by imprisonment if done there (and, in the application of sub-paragraph (1) where a person has previously been convicted, this applies whether or not the act constituted such an offence when the person was convicted).

(3) In the case of a person who has no previous convictions, or only one exempt conviction, the material may be retained until the end of the retention period specified in sub-paragraph (4).

(4) The retention period is—

(a) in the case of fingerprints or relevant physical data, the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which the fingerprints or relevant physical data were taken or provided, and

(b) in the case of a DNA profile, the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which the DNA sample from which the profile was derived was taken (or, if the profile was derived from more than one DNA sample, the date on which the first of those samples was taken).