# Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Act 2010, Section 7: Defences relating to state of mind of defendant etc.


(1) It is a defence for a person (P) charged with an offence under section 2(1)(a) or (c) to (g) to show that, at the time of the conduct constituting the offence, P neither knew nor suspected, nor had reason to suspect, that the object in question was a prohibited munition.
(2) It is a defence for a person (P) charged with an offence under section 2(1)(e) to show that, having come to know or suspect while the object in question was in P's possession that it was a prohibited munition, P took all reasonable steps, as soon as reasonably practicable after P first had that knowledge or suspicion, to inform the Secretary of State, or a constable or member of a service police force, of P's knowledge or suspicion.
(3) It is a defence for a person (P) charged with an offence under section 2(1)(e) to show that P did not have any knowledge or suspicion that the object in question was a prohibited munition, nor any reason for such a suspicion, until P became aware of the Secretary of State's exercise in the case of that object of a power conferred on the Secretary of State by this Act.
(4) It is a defence for a person (P) charged with an offence under section 2(2) to show that, at the time of the assistance, encouragement or inducement, P neither knew nor suspected, nor had reason to suspect, that the conduct assisted, encouraged or induced related, or might relate, to a prohibited munition.
(5) In subsection (2), “service police force” means—
(a) the Royal Navy Police,
(b) the Royal Military Police, or
(c) the Royal Air Force Police.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/11/section/7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/cluster-munitions-prohibitions-act-2010/section-7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.