{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-security-act-2023/section-5",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-security-act-2023/section-5.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2023/32",
  "legislation_title": "National Security Act 2023",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-security-act-2023",
  "path": "section/5",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "5",
  "heading": "Unauthorised entry etc to a prohibited place",
  "text": "(1) A person commits an offence if—\n(a) the person—\n(i) accesses, enters, inspects or passes over or under a prohibited place, or\n(ii) causes an unmanned vehicle or device to access, enter, inspect or pass over or under a prohibited place,\n(b) that conduct is unauthorised, and\n(c) the person knows, or having regard to other matters known to them ought reasonably to know, that their conduct is unauthorised.\n(2) A person’s conduct is unauthorised if the person—\n(a) is not entitled to determine whether they may engage in the conduct, and\n(b) does not have consent to engage in the conduct from a person so entitled.\n(3) In subsection (1)(a) a reference to inspecting a prohibited place includes taking, or procuring the taking of, photographs, videos or other recordings of the prohibited place.\n(4) For the purposes of this section, a person engages in conduct mentioned in subsection (1)(a) if the person does so in person or by electronic or remote means.\n(5) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—\n(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum term for summary offences or a fine (or both);\n(b) on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or both);\n(c) on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or both).",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 5 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 100(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I2",
      "text": "S. 5 in force at 20.12.2023 by S.I. 2023/1272, reg. 2(a)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/32/section/5",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T08:52:07.318384+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "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."
}