Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019

Searches

8 (1) An examining officer who questions a person under paragraph 1 may—

(a) search the person;

(b) search anything on a ship or aircraft that the person has with them or which belongs to them;

(c) search anything which the person has with them or which belongs to them and which the officer reasonably believes has been, or is about to be, on a ship or aircraft;

(d) search a ship or aircraft for anything falling within paragraph (b);

(e) search a vehicle which is on a ship or aircraft;

(f) search a vehicle which the officer reasonably believes has been, or is about to be, on a ship or aircraft.

(2) Where an examining officer questions a person in the border area under paragraph 1 the officer may (in addition to the matters specified in sub-paragraph (1))—

(a) search a vehicle;

(b) search anything in or on a vehicle;

(c) search anything which the officer reasonably believes has been, or is about to be, in or on a vehicle.

(3) The powers conferred by sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) are exercisable only for the purposes of determining whether a person is or has been engaged in hostile activity.

(4) A search of a person under this paragraph—

(a) must be carried out by somebody of the same sex;

(b) does not extend to the carrying out of an intimate search.

(5) A strip search of a person may not be carried out under this paragraph unless—

(a) the person is detained under paragraph 4,

(b) the examining officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is concealing something which may be evidence that the person is or has been engaged in hostile activity, and

(c) the search is authorised by a senior officer who has not been directly involved in the questioning of the person.

(6) “Senior officer” means—

(a) where the examining officer is a constable, a constable of a higher rank than the examining officer,

(b) where the examining officer is an immigration officer, an immigration officer of a higher grade than the examining officer, and

(c) where the examining officer is a customs officer, a customs officer of a higher grade than the examining officer.

(7) In this paragraph—

• “intimate search” means a search which consists of a physical examination of a person’s body orifices other than the mouth;

• “strip search” means a search which is not an intimate search but involves the removal of an article of clothing which—

  (a)

  is being worn wholly or partly on the trunk, and

  (b)

  is being so worn either next to the skin or next to an article of underwear.