Armed Forces Act 2006

328 Enlistment

(1) The Defence Council may by regulations make provision with respect to the enlistment of persons in the regular forces (including enlistment outside the United Kingdom).

(2) The regulations may in particular make provision—

(a) requiring the enlistment of persons in the regular forces to be undertaken by recruiting officers;

(b) as to the persons, whether or not members of the regular forces, who may be appointed as recruiting officers;

(c) prohibiting the enlistment of persons under the age of 18 without the consent of prescribed persons;

(d) deeming a person, in prescribed circumstances, to have attained (or not to have attained) that age;

(e) as to the procedure for enlistment (including requiring a recruiting officer to attest the enlistment);

(f) creating offences relating to knowingly giving false answers during the enlistment procedure;

(g) as to the approval for service of persons who have enlisted.

(3) The regulations may also in particular make provision in connection with the validity of a person’s enlistment, including provision—

(a) as to when, how and on what basis the validity of a person’s enlistment may be challenged;

(b) deeming a person, in prescribed circumstances, to have been validly enlisted;

(c) conferring on a person a right to discharge in prescribed circumstances;

(d) as to the status of a person until he is discharged.

(4) Where the regulations create an offence they may provide—

(a) that the offence is a service offence and is punishable by any punishment mentioned in rows 2 to 12 of the Table in section 164; or

(b) that the offence is an offence triable summarily by a civilian court in the United Kingdom and is punishable by a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.

(5) In this section and sections 329 to 331 “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Defence Council.