General Content

Important information regarding implementation of the 'Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007’'

A new act is about to become effective that has been designed to restrict the sale and use of knives and swords. The legislation has been created in an attempt to reduce knife crime but has unintentional consequences for several sports including fencing, and comes into effect on the 1st of June 2010.

The legislation in its current form will mean that anyone selling a sword or blade in Scotland will need a trader’s license for each premises in each local authority area. A detailed breakdown of the potential effects on different parts of the sport is below, but with the act enforced it would no longer be viable for companies to sell equipment at tournaments nor for coaches to sell equipment to club members. Clearly this could be deeply detrimental to our sport.

Scottish Fencing have been working hard with the assistance from the Scottish Sports Association to attempt to resolve this and has made good progress. I had hoped that we would have this resolved prior to the 1st of June, but the General Election has caused several delays. We are confident, however, that we can get the act amended prior to the close of parliament on the 30th of June.

All members of Scottish Fencing can help in this cause. By writing to your MSP you can raise awareness of this issue and help ensure that the amendment is passed when it comes before parliament. The more MSPs that are aware of the issue and are concerned about it, the more likely it will be that we get the result we need.

I have prepared a letter for you to send which is at the bottom of this page – you need only to fill in your details and the address of your MSP. You can find out who your MSP is here….

Find your local MSP

If you have any questions relating to this please do not hesitate to contact the office or me directly.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Hyde
President
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Details on the Effects of the Act on our Sport

This new legislation in Scotland will have a direct impact on how we organise and conduct certain activities within our sport and particularly how blades and weapons are sold. The legislation becomes effective from June 1st 2010 and covers complete weapons and blades, i.e. foils, epees, sabres and their associated blades. No other piece of fencing equipment (including plastic or children’s weapons) is affected. The legislation applies only to Scotland.

Below is our understanding of how the legislation will affect us on a practical basis but we must stress this is by no means a definitive statement. We strongly advise that anyone who thinks they may be subject to the legislation should contact their local authority Trading Standards and Licensing office immediately for guidance relevant to their particular circumstances.

Fencers
The inclusion of our sport within the legislation was intended to safeguard fencers by officially recognising it as a legitimate activity. As such, the sport is not subject to the legislation that will be applied to people carrying dangerous knives in public places and will allow fencing to take place as normal and without interference from the law. We would, however, advise that when carrying fencing equipment in public places fencers should ensure that weapons are not exposed to view. As such, you should ensure that weapons are carried in a bag designed for the purpose and act responsibly whenever carrying equipment. Fencers need to ensure that they have purchased enough spare blades prior to any event. – see the section on ‘Events’ below.

Clubs
Most regular club activities will not be affected in any way as fencing is recognised as a legitimate activity by the act. The legislation specifically allows for ‘qualified coaches’ to be allowed to ‘hire’, ‘lend’ or ‘give’ weapons in the course of their activities as coaches within their club and to allow club members to compete at events if they need to borrow weapons. The term ‘qualified coaches’ is specifically used within the legislation and as such we recommend that any lending, hiring or giving of weapons within a club is carried out or supervised by such a person.

Coaches
Coaches are exempt from the legislation in the terms stated in the ‘Clubs’ section above - i.e. they are deemed not to be a business for the purpose of the legislation. However, if a fencing coach sells weapons and/or blades to club members then he/she will need a licence. There are no exemptions from this regardless of the quantity of blades sold. We would therefore recommend that any coaches who sell equipment contact the manufacturers of the equipment for advice. All manufacturers should be fully aware of the legislation and (if operating within Scotland) will require a licence themselves. For coaches who resell weapons and blades we recommend you contact the licensing department within your Local Authority area. You will need to license the premises you sell equipment from (e.g. your home or club premises) The annual cost for a license seems to be in the region of £150 < £300 per premises. If you operate in more than one Local Authority area you will require a separate licence for each authority area you sell equipment in.

We cannot emphasise enough that to protect yourself and the reputation of our sport you should take relevant advice if you are likely to be affected.

Events
Fencing Competitions are deemed to be a legitimate activity under the legislation as referred to above so there should be no fundamental change to the way we run events. However, equipment vendors selling weapons and blades at an event will now need a licence. This will be in addition to the licence they will need for their ‘normal place of business’ and will have to be applied for separately for each event in each Local Authority area. Due to the cost and administration involved in applying for each licence for each event, we have to consider the possibility that equipment vendors will realistically no longer be able to sell weapons and blades at events. In practical terms this means fencers will now have to ensure they have enough spare blades to see them through an event. The legislation does not affect running an armoury service at events. Armourers will be able to repair weapons that require a broken blade to be changed as long as the fencer supplies the blade.

Equipment Vendors
Equipment vendors are considered as ‘dealers’ under the legislation and if operating principally or in a subsidiary capacity in Scotland need a licence from their Local Authority in which their ‘place of business’ is located.

Other details
You should note that the information here is for guidance only and is essentially our impression (and that of our expert advisors) of how the law will be interpreted and followed. If you think you may be affected by this legislation then it is your responsibility to check with your local authority for clarification on where you stand.

We have collated this information with assistance from Allstar Uhlmann UK who have spent a great deal of time consulting Local Authority Trading Standards, Licensing and Legal departments as well as their own advisors. We are very grateful for their assistance and for making the legal advice and opinion they have received available to us.

It is important that we all do our very best to bear this legislation in mind in our day to day involvement in whatever capacity within the sport and that fencing is always seen as a safe and responsibly conducted sport.

Courtesy of Scottish Fencing website http://www.scottish-fencing.com/pages/detail.asp?article_id=879