Tokyo Convention Act 1967 (repealed 17.7.1997)

Application of criminal law to aircraft

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• (1) Any act or omission taking place on board a British-controlled aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom which, if taking place in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom, would constitute an offence under the law in force in, or in that part of, the United Kingdom shall constitute that offence :

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to any act or omission which is expressly or impliedly authorised by or under that law when taking place outside the United Kingdom.

• (2) No proceedings for any offence under the law in force in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom committed on board an aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom (other than an offence under, or under any instrument made under, the Civil Aviation Acts 1949 and 1960 or the Civil Aviation (Eurocontrol) Act 1962) shall be instituted—

• (a) in England and Wales, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions; or

• (b) in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland;

but the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not prevent the arrest, or the issue of a warrant for the arrest, of any person in respect of any offence, or the remanding in custody or on bail of any person charged with any offence.

• (3) For the purpose of conferring jurisdiction, any offence under the law in force in, or in a part of, the United Kingdom committed on board an aircraft in flight shall be deemed to have been committed in any place in the United Kingdom (or, as the case may be, in that part thereof) where the offender may for the time being be; and section 62(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1949 is hereby repealed.

Provisions as to extradition

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• (1) For the purposes of the application of the Extradition Act 1870 to crimes committed on board an aircraft in flight, any aircraft registered in a Convention country shall at any time while that aircraft is in flight be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of that country, whether or not it is for the time being also within the jurisdiction of any other country; and paragraphs (1) to (3) of section 16 of that Act (which have effect where a person's surrender is sought in respect of a crime committed on board a vessel on the high seas which comes into any port of the United Kingdom) shall have effect also where a person's surrender is sought in respect of a crime committed on board an aircraft in flight which lands in the United Kingdom, but as if in the said paragraph (3) for references to the port where the vessel lies there were substituted references to the place at which the person whose surrender is sought is disembarked.

• (2) Sections 17 and 22 of the said Act of 1870 (which relate to the extent of that Act) shall apply to subsection (1) of this section as if that subsection were included in that Act.

Powers of commander of aircraft

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• (1) The provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of this section shall have effect for the purposes of any proceedings before any court in the United Kingdom.

• (2) If the commander of an aircraft in flight, wherever that aircraft may be, has reasonable grounds to believe in respect of any person on board the aircraft—

• (a) that the person in question has done or is about to do any act on the aircraft while it is in flight which jeopardises or may jeopardise—

• (i) the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft; or

• (ii) good order and discipline on board the aircraft; or

• (b) that the person in question has done on the aircraft while in flight any act which in the opinion of the commander is a serious offence under any law in force in the country in which the aircraft is registered, not being a law of a political nature or based on racial or religious discrimination,

then, subject to subsection (4) of this section, the commander may take with respect to that person such reasonable measures, including restraint of his person, as may be necessary—

• (i) to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft; or

• (ii) to maintain good order and discipline on board the air craft ; or

• (iii) to enable the commander to disembark or deliver that person in accordance with subsection (5) of this section;

and for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this subsection any British-controlled aircraft shall be deemed to be registered in the United Kingdom whether or not it is in fact so registered and whether or not it is in fact registered in some other country.

• (3) Any member of the crew of an aircraft and any other person on board the aircraft may, at the request or with the authority of the commander of the aircraft, and any such member shall if so required by that commander, render assistance in restraining any person whom the commander is entitled under subsection (2) of this section to restrain; and at any time when the aircraft is in flight any such member or other person may, without obtaining the authority of the commander, take with respect to any person on board the aircraft any measures such as are mentioned in the said subsection (2) which he has reasonable grounds to believe are immediately necessary to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft.

• (4) Any restraint imposed on any person on board an aircraft under the powers conferred by the foregoing provisions of this section shall not be continued after the time when the aircraft first thereafter ceases to be in flight unless before or as soon as is reasonably practicable after that time the commander of the aircraft causes notification of the fact that a person on board the aircraft is under restraint and of the reasons therefor to be sent to an appropriate authority of the country in which the aircraft so ceases to be in flight, but subject to such notification may be continued after that time—

• (a) for any period (including the period of any further flight) between that time and the first occasion thereafter on which the commander is able with any requisite consent of the appropriate authorities to disembark or deliver the person under restraint in accordance with subsection (5) of this section ; or

• (b) if the person under restraint agrees to continue his journey under restraint on board that aircraft.

• (5) The commander of an aircraft—

• (a) if in the case of any person on board the aircraft he has reasonable grounds—

• (i) to believe as mentioned in subsection (2)(a) of this section; and

• (ii) to believe that it is necessary so to do in order to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft or to maintain good order and discipline on board the aircraft,

may disembark that person in any country in which that aircraft may be; and

• (b) if in the case of any person on board the aircraft he has reasonable grounds to believe as mentioned in subsection (2)(b) of this section, may deliver that person—

• (i) in the United Kingdom, to a constable or immigration officer; or

• (ii) in any other country which is a Convention country, to an officer having functions corresponding to the functions in the United Kingdom either of a constable or of an immigration officer.

• (6) The commander of an aircraft—

• (a) if he disembarks any person in pursuance of subsection (5)(a) of this section, in the case of a British-controlled aircraft, in any country or, in the case of any other aircraft, in the United Kingdom, shall report the fact of, and the reasons for, that disembarkation to—

• (i) an appropriate authority in the country of disembarkation; and

• (ii) the appropriate diplomatic or consular office of the country of nationality of that person;

• (b) if he intends to deliver any person in accordance with subsection (5)(b) of this section in the United Kingdom or, in the case of a British-controlled aircraft, in any other country which is a Convention country, shall before or as soon as reasonably practicable after landing give notification of his intention and of the reasons therefor—

• (i) where the country in question is the United Kingdom, to a constable or immigration officer or, in the case of any other country, to an officer having functions corresponding to the functions in the United Kingdom either of a constable or of an immigration officer;

• (ii) in either case to the appropriate diplomatic or consular office of the country of nationality of that person;

and any commander of an aircraft who without reasonable cause fails to comply with the requirements of this subsection shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

Piracy

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For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that for the purposes of any proceedings before a court in the United Kingdom in respect of piracy, the provisions set out in the Schedule to this Act of the Convention on the High Seas signed at Geneva on 29th April 1958 shall be treated as constituting part of the law of nations; and any such court having jurisdiction in respect of piracy committed on the high seas shall have jurisdiction in respect of piracy committed by or against an aircraft wherever that piracy is committed.

Provisions as to evidence in connection with aircraft

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• (1) Where in any proceedings before a court in the United Kingdom for an offence committed on board an aircraft the testimony of any person is required and the court is satisfied that the person in question cannot be found in the United Kingdom, there shall be admissible in evidence before that court any deposition relating to the subject matter of those proceedings previously made on oath by that person outside the United Kingdom which was so made—

• (a) in the presence of the person charged with the offence ; and

• (b) before a judge or magistrate of a country such as is mentioned in section 1(3) of the British Nationality Act 1948 as for the time being in force, or which is part of Her Majesty's dominions, or in which Her Majesty for the time being has jurisdiction, or before a consular officer of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.

• (2) Any such deposition shall be authenticated by the signature of the judge, magistrate or consular officer before whom it was made who shall certify that the person charged with the offence was present at the taking of the deposition.

• (3) It shall not be necessary in any proceedings to prove the signature or official character of the person appearing so to have authenticated any such deposition or to have given such a certificate, and such a certificate shall, unless the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence in any proceedings that the person charged with the offence was present at the making of the deposition.

• (4) If a complaint is made to such a consular officer as aforesaid that any offence has been committed on a British-controlled aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom, that officer may inquire into the case upon oath.

• (5) In this section—

• (a) the expression " deposition" includes any affidavit, affirmation or statement made upon oath ; and

• (b) the expression " oath" includes an affirmation or declaration in the case of persons allowed by law to affirm or declare instead of swearing ;

and nothing in this section shall prejudice the admission as evidence of any deposition which is admissible in evidence apart from this section.

Provisions as to documentary evidence

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• (1) In any legal proceedings—

• (a) a document purporting to be certified by such authority or person as may be designated for the purpose by regulations made by the Board of Trade as being, or being a true copy of, or of part of, a document issued or record kept in pursuance of—

• (i) an Order in Council made under section 8 of the Civil Aviation Act 1949; or

• (ii) the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act 1960 or this Act,

by, or by the Minister in charge of, a government department, by an official of a government department who is specified for the purpose in any such Order in Council, or by the Air Registration Board or the Air Transport Licensing Board; or

• (b) a document printed by Her Majesty's Stationery Office and purporting to be the publication known as the " United Kingdom Air Pilot" or a publication of the series known as " Notam—United Kingdom ",

shall be evidence, and in Scotland sufficient evidence, of the matters appearing from that document.

• (2) Section 5 of the Civil Aviation (Eurocontrol) Act 1962 (which relates to the use as evidence of certain records of the position of an aircraft or of any message or signal transmitted to or received from an aircraft) shall apply to any legal proceedings ; and the authorities or persons to be designated for the purposes of subsection (1) of that section shall, instead of being designated as mentioned in subsection (2) of that section, be designated in all cases by regulations made under this subsection by the Board of Trade; and—

• (a) the said subsection (2) is hereby repealed ; but

• (b) any provision made by regulations or Order in Council by virtue of that subsection and in force immediately before the commencement of this subsection shall continue in force as if contained in regulations made by the Board of Trade under this subsection until varied or revoked by regulations so made.

• (3) Any regulations made under this section shall be made by statutory instrument and be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Interpretation, etc.

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• (1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively, that is to say—

• " aircraft " means any aircraft, whether or not a British-controlled aircraft, other than— a military aircraft; or an aircraft which, not being a military aircraft, belongs to or is exclusively employed in the service of Her Majesty in right of the United Kingdom; but Her Majesty may by Order in Council, which may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in Council, provide that any of the provisions of this Act shall apply with or without modifications to aircraft such as are mentioned in paragraph (b) of this definition;

• " British-controlled aircraft " means an aircraft— which is for the time being registered in the United Kingdom; or which is not for the time being registered in any country but in the case of which either the operator of the aircraft or each person entitled as owner to any legal or beneficial interest in it satisfies the following requirements, namely— that he is a person qualified to be the owner of a legal or beneficial interest in an aircraft registered in the United Kingdom ; and that he resides or has his principal place of business in the United Kingdom ; or which, being for the time being registered in some other country, is for the time being chartered by demise to a person who, or to persons each of whom, satisfies the requirements aforesaid ;

• " commander " in relation to an aircraft means the member of the crew designated as commander of that aircraft by the operator thereof, or, failing such a person, the person who is for the time being the pilot in command of the aircraft;

• " Convention country " means a country in which the Tokyo Convention is for the time being in force; and Her Majesty may by Order in Council certify that any country specified in the Order is for the time being a Convention country, and any such Order in Council for the time being in force shall be conclusive evidence that the country in question is for the time being a Convention country but may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in Council;

• " military aircraft " means— an aircraft of the naval, military or air forces of any country; or any other aircraft in respect of which there is in force a certificate issued in accordance with any Order in Council in force under the Civil Aviation Act 1949 that the aircraft is to be treated for the purposes of that Order in Council as a military aircraft; and a certificate of the Secretary of State that any aircraft is or is not a military aircraft for the purposes of this Act shall be conclusive evidence of the fact certified;

• " operator " in relation to any aircraft at any time means the person who at that time has the management of that aircraft;

• " pilot in command " in relation to an aircraft means a person who for the time being is in charge of the piloting of the aircraft without being under the direction of any other pilot in the aircraft;

• " Tokyo Convention " means the Convention on Offences and certain other Acts Committed on board Aircraft signed at Tokyo on 14th September 1963.

• (2) For the purposes of this Act, the period during which an aircraft is in flight shall be deemed to include—

• (a) any period from the moment when power is applied for the purpose of the aircraft taking off on a flight until the moment when the landing run (if any) at the termination of that flight ends ; and

• (b) for the purposes of section 3 of this Act—

• (i) any further period from the moment when all external doors, if any, of the aircraft are closed following embarkation for a flight until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation after that flight; and

• (ii) if the aircraft makes a forced landing, any period thereafter until the time when competent authorities of the country in which the forced landing takes place take over the responsibility for the aircraft and for the persons and property on board the aircraft (being, if the forced landing takes place in the United Kingdom, the time when a constable arrives at the place of landing);

and any reference in this Act to an aircraft in flight shall include a reference to an aircraft during any period when it is on the surface of the sea or land but not within the territorial limits of any country.

• (3) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, any reference to a country or the territorial limits thereof shall be construed as including a reference to the territorial waters, if any, of that country, and references to a part of the United Kingdom shall be construed as including references to so much of the territorial waters of the United Kingdom as are adjacent to that part.