1. For the purposes of these Regulations “explosive” means an explosive substance, commonly known as a “plastic explosive”, including such substance in flexible or elastic sheet form and whether or not contained in an explosive article, which is—
(a)formulated with one or more high explosives which in their pure form have a vapour pressure less than 10−4 Pa at a temperature of 25°C;
(b)formulated with a binder material; and
(c)malleable or flexible at normal room temperature.
2. The following explosives, even though meeting the description of explosives in paragraph 1 of this Part, shall not be considered to be explosives for the purposes of these Regulations as long as their manufacture or possession continues to be to a quantity and for a purpose specified in any of sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of this paragraph or they continue to satisfy the description specified in sub-paragraph (d) of this paragraph, namely any explosive—
(a)the manufacture or possession of which is to a quantity no greater than is necessary for the purpose of, and is solely for use in, lawful research, development or testing of new or modified explosives;
(b)the manufacture or possession of which is to a quantity no greater than is necessary for the purpose of, and is solely for use in, lawful training in explosives detection or development or testing of explosives detection equipment;
(c)the manufacture or possession of which is to a quantity no greater than is necessary for, and is solely for, the purpose of lawful forensic science; or
(d)which is manufactured in the United Kingdom, and destined to be incorporated as an integral part of an authorised military device in the United Kingdom, before the date which is 3 years after the coming into force of these Regulations.
3. In this Part “high explosives” include, but are not restricted to, cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX).