Commentary on Sections Part 4: Enforcement Section 31: People trafficking
98.Section 31(1) amends section 4(1) of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 (the 2004 Act) to provide that a person commits an offence if they facilitate the arrival in, or the entry into, the United Kingdom of a person that they intend to exploit or who they believe is likely to be exploited by another person.
99.Similarly to the above, subsection (3) amends the existing offence of trafficking for sexual exploitation contained in section 57(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) so that it is an offence for an individual to intentionally arrange the arrival in, or entry into, the United Kingdom of another person (A) with the intention of that individual or a third person then doing anything to or in respect of A that will involve the commission of a relevant offence (as defined at subsection (1) of section 60 of the 2003 Act).
100.These amendments will ensure that acts committed after a person has arrived in the UK but before they have entered the UK will be covered by the offences.
101.The trafficking people for exploitation offences contained in section 4 of the 2004 Act and sections 57 to 59 of the 2003 Act currently encompass anything done in the UK, anything done outside the UK by a British national and anything done outside the UK by a body incorporated in the UK to facilitate the arrival or entry into the UK of an individual for the purposes of exploitation. Section 31, subsections (2) and (4) amends sections 5(1) and (2) of the 2004 Act and sections 60(2) and (3) of the 2003 Act by removing these limitations on the territorial application of the offences and thereby ensuring that facilitating the arrival or entry into the UK of a person for the purposes of exploitation, regardless of where the facilitation took place and irrespective of the nationality of the facilitator, are now caught by the offences.