Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953

3 Extension of control of certain explosives

(1) The Secretary of State may by order impose, in addition to those imposed in relation thereto by the Explosives Act, 1875, such prohibitions or restrictions on the use of gunpowder and safety fuses and the transfer, whether for consideration or not, of the possession thereof or property therein as appear to him to be necessary or expedient in the public interest; and any such order may prohibit the doing of anything restricted by the order except under the authority of a licence granted by such person as may be specified in the order.

(2) The Secretary of State may by order make provision for requiring that, subject to any exemptions for which provision may be made by the order, a person who enters into a prescribed transaction with respect to an explosive to which this subsection applies shall make and shall keep for the prescribed period a record containing the prescribed particulars of the transaction and shall produce the record to such person and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

This subsection applies to gunpowder, safety fuses and any explosive to which an Order in Council made under section forty-three of the Explosives Act, 1875, for the time being applies, and for the purposes of this subsection the expression " prescribed " means, in relation to an order, prescribed by the order.

(3) An order under this section may make provision for any incidental or supplementary matters for which the Secretary of State thinks it expedient for the purposes of the order to provide.

(4) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of an order under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to both.

(5) On the coming into operation of the order first made under this section, Regulation two BA of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which empowers the Secretary of State to impose (prohibitions and restrictions on the keeping and transfer of explosives and other substances) shall be revoked, but (without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) of this section) that order may contain provision with respect to any matters for which it appears to the Secretary of State expedient to provide for the purposes of the transition to the provisions of that order from the provisions of any order under the said Regulation two BA which is in force immediately before the revocation thereof.