Part 1: Counter-terrorism Chapter 1: Terrorist offences Section 5: Encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications
This section amends sections 1 and 2 of the 2006 Act which provide for offences of encouragement of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications respectively.
	The offence in section 1 of the 2006 Act is concerned with the publication of statements and section 1(1) sets out the type of statements to which it applies. These are statements that are likely to be understood by some or all of the members of the public to whom they are published as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to them to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism or Convention offences (that is the offences listed in Schedule 1 to the 2006 Act - these are the offences in UK law establishing offences as required by the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism). The term "public", which is defined in section 20(3) of the 2006 Act, includes any section of the public and a meeting or other group of persons which is open to the public (whether unconditionally or on the making of a payment or the satisfaction of other conditions).
	Section 1(2) sets out the conduct (actus reus) and mental (mens rea) elements of the offence. The offence is committed if a person publishes a statement (as defined in section 1(1)) or causes another to publish such a statement and he or she has the necessary mens rea. The mens rea is that, at the time of publishing or causing to publish, the person either intends members of the public to be directly or indirectly encouraged or otherwise induced, by the statement to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism or Convention offences, or he or she is reckless as to whether members of the public will be so directly or indirectly encouraged by the statement. The term "publishing a statement" is defined in section 20(4) of the 2006 Act and includes publishing a statement in any manner to the public, providing an electronic service by which means the public have access to the statement, or using an electronic service provided by another in relation to the material supplied by him or her so as to enable the public to have access to the statement. Amongst other things, section 1(5) provides that an offence is committed whether or not any person is actually encouraged or induced to commit, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism or Convention offence.
	Given the requirement in section 1(1) that the statement must be "likely to be understood" by a member of the public to whom it is directed as an encouragement or inducement to them to commission, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism, the encouragement offence will not be made out if the statement is directed at children or vulnerable adults who do not understand the statement to be an encouragement to engage in acts of terrorism. Subsections (3) and (4) of the section amend section 1 of the 2006 Act to provide instead for a "reasonable person" test so that the offence would be made out if a reasonable person would understand the statement as an encouragement or inducement to them to commission, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism.
	Section 2 of the 2006 Act creates offences relating to the sale and other dissemination of books and other publications, including material on the internet, that encourage people to engage in terrorism, or provide information that could be useful to terrorists.
	The conduct element of the offence, as set out in section 2(2), covers: distributing or circulating a terrorist publication; giving, selling, or lending a terrorist publication; offering a terrorist publication for sale or loan; providing a service to others that enables them to obtain, read, listen to or look at such a publication, or to acquire it by means of gift, sale, or loan; transmitting the contents of a terrorist publication electronically; and possessing a terrorist publication with a view to making it available in any of the ways listed.
	The mens rea is provided for in subsection (1) of section 2 of the 2006 Act. For an offence to be committed, it is necessary for an individual to carry out any of the actions set out in subsection (2) of section 2 (as described above) and for him or her either to have an intention that an effect of his or her conduct will be a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to terrorism, an intention that an effect of his or her conduct will be the provision of assistance in the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism, or for him or her to be reckless as to whether his or her conduct has one of these two specified effects.
	Section 2(3) of the 2006 Act sets out the definition of terrorist publication. A publication is considered a terrorist publication if it meets one of two tests. The first test is if matter contained in it is likely to be understood by some or all of the persons to whom it is or may become available as a consequence of the conduct in section 2(2) as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The second test is if it contains any matter which is likely to be useful in the commission or preparation of such acts, and it is likely to be understood by some or all of the persons to whom it is or may become available as being contained in the publication, or made available to them, wholly or mainly for the purposes of being so useful to them.
	Given the requirement in section 2(3) that the material contained in the publication must be "likely to be understood" by some or all of the persons to whom it becomes available as an encouragement or inducement to them to commission, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism, the existing dissemination offence would not be made out if a publication was disseminated to children or vulnerable adults who do not understand that its content is an encouragement to engage in acts of terrorism. Subsections (6) and (7) of the section amend section 2 of the 2006 Act to provide instead for a "reasonable person" test so that the offence will be made out if a reasonable person would understand the content of the publication as being an encouragement or inducement to them to commission, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism.