Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 Enforcement at the UK border Presented by: Colin Fraser

Liable to forfeiture A psychoactive substance is liable to forfeiture under The Customs and Management Act 1979 (CEMA) if: - - it is being imported or exported - is likely to be used by an individual for its psychoactive effect; and - the import or export is not an exempted activity (section 55 of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016) It’s an offence under section 8 of the 2016 Act as specified for a person to import or export a psychoactive substance Border Force mostly encounters psychoactive substances at import in post and fast parcels. The majority of seizures of NPS in Scotland have been importations at fast parcel depots. The country of origin for the majority of seizures has been China. 2

Controlling psychoactive substances If goods are mis-declared or concealed in manner to deceive a Border Force officer, Border Force will seize the goods under relating provisions of CEMA If goods have been declared correctly and not concealed but Border Force suspects that they are a psychoactive substance, Border Force will detain the goods under CEMA Border Force will use field drugs testing equipment and kits to attempt to identify whether a substance is a controlled drug Border Force has a First Defender psychoactive testing kit at its disposal. This is based at Edinburgh Airport. Border Force will generally refer detections of a suspected psychoactive substance to the National Crime Agency 3

First Defender 4

Contacting the importer and seizure Where indicative testing does not identify the detained substance is a controlled drug, Border Force will write to the importer explaining the detention of their goods and that they have 30 days to provide reasons why their goods should be released If the person does not respond within 30 days or Border Force is not satisfied with their reasons for releasing the goods, the goods will be seized CEMA and the importer informed accordingly 5

Appeal against seizure Under CEMA the importer has 1 month from the date of seizure to appeal the goods’ liability to forfeiture If an appeal notice is received in time, a Condemnation Hearing will be heard before a Sheriff. If an appeal notice is not received within time, the substance will be destroyed or if required made available to the Home Office Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS) for testing for intelligence purposes 6

Forensic testing - Identification If Border Force receives an appeal notice in time, Border Force will have the substance forensically tested to confirm it’s identity Border Force will then check Home Office and other sources to confirm whether the identified substance is already known to have a psychoactive effect. If it does, Border Force will maintain the seizure and submit relating paperwork to the court or Sherriff 7

Forensic testing – Psychoactive effect If Home Office and other sources cannot confirm whether the identified substance is known to have a psychoactive effect, Border Force will seek to have the substance tested for psychoactive effects via a FEWS contract If testing confirms the substance does not have a psychoactive effect, Border Force will release the substance If testing confirms the substance has a psychoactive effect, Border Force will maintain the seizure and submit relating paperwork to the court or Sheriff 8

Seizures of suspected NPS in Scotland Seizures Year End March 2015: - Number – 31 Weight – KGS Seizures Year End March 2016: - Number – 8 Weight – 7.32 KGS 80% reduction by weight 74% reduction by number The reduction mirrors the national picture 9

Business as usual Aside from accessing testing for psychoactive effects at the appeal stage, Border Force’s enforcement approach is the same as now Border Force doesn’t currently receive many appeals against the seizure of psychoactive substances, because importers don’t want to provide further information about themselves 10