{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/identity-documents-act-2010/section-6",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/identity-documents-act-2010/section-6.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2010/40",
  "legislation_title": "Identity Documents Act 2010",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/identity-documents-act-2010",
  "path": "section/6",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "6",
  "heading": "Possession of false identity documents etc without reasonable excuse",
  "text": "(1) It is an offence for a person (“P”), without reasonable excuse, to have in P's possession or under P's control—\n(a) an identity document that is false,\n(b) an identity document that was improperly obtained,\n(c) an identity document that relates to someone else,\n(d) any apparatus which, to P's knowledge, is or has been specially designed or adapted for the making of false identity documents, or\n(e) any article or material which, to P's knowledge, is or has been specially designed or adapted to be used in the making of such documents.\n(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—\n(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or a fine (or both), or\n(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum period or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both).\n(3) In subsection (2)(b) “the maximum period” means—\n(a) in ... Scotland, 12 months, and\n(b) in Northern Ireland, 6 months.\n(c) in England and Wales, the general limit in a magistrates’ court.\n(4) In subsection (3)(c) the reference to the general limit in a magistrates’ court in England and Wales is to be read, in relation to an offence committed before 2 May 2022, as a reference to 6 months.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in s. 6(3)(a) omitted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by virtue of The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 23(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "S. 6(3)(c) inserted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 23(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Word in s. 6(4) substituted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 23(4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in s. 6(4) substituted (7.2.2023 at 12.00 p.m.) by The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/149), regs. 1(2), 2(1), Sch. Pt. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in s. 6(4) substituted (28.4.2022) by The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 33) and Sentencing Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/500), regs. 1(2), 5(1), Sch. Pt. 1"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/40/section/6",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:09:44.513889+00:00",
    "licence": "OGL-UK-3.0",
    "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
    "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
  }
}