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The Accreditation of Forensic Service Providers Regulations 2018

S.I. 2018/1276 · Made 28 November 2018 · Extends to United Kingdom

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 23 July 2021.

Police

Made 28th November 2018

Laid before Parliament 3rd December 2018

Coming into force 25th March 2019

The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated M1 for the purpose of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 M2 in relation to criminal justice, makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by that section.

Annotations to the whole text

Marginal citations

M1

S.I. 2012/2752.

M2

1972 c. 68; section 2(2) was amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51), and by section 3(3) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 1 to, the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c. 7). Under section 57 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) despite the transfer to Scottish Ministers of functions in relation to implementing obligations under Union law in respect of devolved matters, the function of the Secretary of State in relation to implementing those obligations continues to be exercisable by him as regards Scotland.

Contents

  1. 1Citation and commencement
  2. 2Interpretation
  3. 3Scope
  4. 4Requirement of accreditation
  5. 5Recognition of results
  6. Signature
  7. Schedule
  8. 1Specified competent law enforcement authorities
  9. 2Paragraph 2
  10. 3Paragraph 3
  11. 4Paragraph 4
  12. 5Paragraph 5
  13. 6Paragraph 6
  14. 7Paragraph 7
  15. 8Paragraph 8
  16. 9Paragraph 9
  17. 10Paragraph 10
  18. 11Paragraph 11
  19. Explanatory note

1Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Accreditation of Forensic Service Providers Regulations 2018 and come into force on 25th March 2019.

2Interpretation

In these Regulations—

  • F1“AWE Aldermaston” means the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston;

  • “competent law enforcement authorities” means those bodies responsible for the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal offences as specified in the Schedule to these Regulations;

  • “dactyloscopic data” has the same meaning as in F2Title II of Part 3 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (exchanges of DNA, fingerprints and F3vehicle registration data);

  • “DNA-profile” has the same meaning as in Title II of Part 3 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (exchanges of DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration data);

  • F4“Dstl Fort Halstead” means the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Fort Halstead;

  • “Dstl Porton Down” means the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down;

  • “forensic service provider” means any person that carries out laboratory activities at the request of competent law enforcement authorities;

  • F5...

  • “laboratory activity” has the same meaning as in Title II of Part 3 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (exchanges of DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration data);

  • F6“relevant employee” in relation to a particular laboratory activity means an individual who is employed by an accredited forensic service provider for the purpose of carrying out that laboratory activity;

  • F7“the Trade and Cooperation Agreement” has the same meaning as in the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 (see section 37 of that Act);

  • “UKAS” means the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales under number 03076190.

3Scope

(1)

These Regulations apply to laboratory activity that results in—

(a)

a DNA-profile, or

(b)

dactyloscopic data.

(2)

These Regulations do not affect national rules on the judicial assessment of evidence.

4Requirement of accreditation

(1)

Competent law enforcement authorities must use an accredited forensic service provider to conduct any laboratory activity that—

(a)

is within scope of these Regulations, and

(b)

is requested in relation to the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal offences.

(2)

A forensic service provider is accredited if they are either—

(a)

accredited by UKAS as complying with European standard EN ISO/IEC 17025 M1, or

(b)

are otherwise accredited in accordance with F1paragraph 1 of F2Article 538 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (accreditation).

F3(2A)

In respect of laboratory activity carried out—

(a)

at AWE Aldermaston, Dstl Fort Halstead or Dstl Porton Down, and

(b)

on items which require specialist handling and containment due to the presence of hazardous chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material or explosive material,

the requirement of accreditation is satisfied if that laboratory activity is carried out by, or under the supervision of, an individual who is a relevant employee in relation to that laboratory activity.

(3)

The requirement of accreditation only applies in relation to laboratory work that is carried out after the commencement of these Regulations.

5Recognition of resultsF1

For the purposes of these Regulations, the results of the following are to be regarded as being equally reliable—

(a)

laboratory activity carried out by forensic service providers accredited in accordance with regulation 4(2)(a);

(b)

laboratory activity carried out by forensic service providers accredited in accordance with regulation 4(2)(b);

(c)

laboratory activity carried out in accordance with regulation 4(2A).

Signature

Nick Hurd

Minister of State

Home Office

1Specified competent law enforcement authorities

Any police force maintained under either section 2 or section 5A of the Police Act 1996 M1.

2

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

3

The British Transport Police Force.

4

The City of London police force.

5

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

6

The Home Office.

7

The National Crime Agency.

8

The Police Service of Northern Ireland.

9

The Police Service of Scotland.

10

The Ports Police, being any body of constables appointed under—

(a)

provisions incorporating section 79 of the Harbours, Docks, and Piers Clauses Act 1847 M1; or

(b)

an order made under section 14(1) of the Harbours Act 1964 M2; or

(c)

section 154 of the Port of London Act 1968 M3.

11

The Serious Fraud Office.

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations transpose Council Framework Decision 2009/905/JHA of the 30th November 2009 on accreditation of forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities (OJ L 322, 9.12.2009, p 14-16).

Regulation 3 limits the scope of the laboratory activities to which the Regulations apply to those which result in the production of DNA-profiles or dactyloscopic (fingerprint) data. It also provides that these Regulations do not affect the existing legal framework regarding the admissibility and assessment of evidence in legal proceedings.

Regulation 4 requires forensic service providers conducting laboratory activities to be accredited to the accreditation standard EN ISO/IEC 17025 on general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Copies of the EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard can be obtained from the British Standards Institute, BSI Customer Services, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL, UK (www.bsigroup.com).

Regulation 5 requires specified law enforcement authorities (as defined in the Schedule to these Regulations) to recognise the results of accredited forensic service providers in other member States as being equally reliable as the result of a laboratory activity provided by a UK accredited forensic service provider.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.