Now, therefore, the Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 141(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988(1), hereby makes the following Order:

1.  This Order may be cited as the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 2002 and shall come into force on the day after it is made.

2.  This Order extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland only.

3.  The Schedule to the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988(2), which specifies offensive weapons for the purposes of section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, shall be amended by the insertion into paragraph 1 of that Schedule after sub-paragraph (n) the words—

“(o)a disguised knife, that is any knife which has a concealed blade or concealed sharp point and is designed to appear to be an everyday object of a kind commonly carried on the person or in a handbag, briefcase, or other hand luggage (such as a comb, brush, writing instrument, cigarette lighter, key, lipstick or telephone).”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that any person who manufactures, sells or hires, or offers for sale or hire, exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person, a weapon to which that section applies shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both. The import of any such weapon is prohibited.

The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 specified descriptions of weapons to which section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies. This Order adds a new category of weapon, the disguised knife, to the list of specified weapons contained in the 1988 Order.

This Order does not extend to Scotland. It comes into force the day after it is made.