Commentary on Sections Section 3:  Scheduled offences
31.Section 65 of, and Schedule 9 to, the 2000 Act define the "scheduled offences" which qualify for the special procedures and provisions set out in sections 66 to 80 because such offences are commonly committed by paramilitaries and terrorist organisations or are related to the situation in Northern Ireland.
32.Note 1 to Part 1 of the Schedule gives the Attorney General the power to certify that in particular cases certain offences listed in that Part are not to be treated as scheduled offences. This enables the Attorney General to ensure that an offence will not be subject to the special provisions if it is not related to the situation in Northern Ireland.
33.Currently the Attorney General only has a discretion to de-schedule an offence if it is listed in the Schedule as being subject to Note 1. A concern has arisen that certain offences, such as those in paragraph 22 of Schedule 9 (for example, offences relating to financing proscribed organisations and to weapons training), that may be committed in circumstances not connected with the emergency in Northern Ireland would nevertheless have to be tried through the Diplock court system because they are not subject to Note 1. Thus cases related to international terrorism but unconnected with the situation in Northern Ireland would be tried without a jury in Northern Ireland but with a jury in Great Britain. The effect of subsections (1) and (2) is that all scheduled offences will now be subject to Note 1 and the Attorney General will have the power deschedule all the offences listed in the Schedule.
34.The purpose of subsections (3) to (5) is to add certain offences set out in the section 9 of the 2005 Act to the list of offences in Schedule 9 to the 2000 Act. The 2005 Act provides for the making of control orders which impose obligations considered necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting an individual’s involvement with terrorism-related activity.
35.Section 9 of the 2005 Act creates three criminal offences in relation to control orders:
	A person is guilty of an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he contravenes an obligation imposed on him by a control order (section 9(1));
	A person is guilty of an offence if he fails, without reasonable excuse, to report to a specified person when first returning to the United Kingdom as required by the terms of the control order when the order has ceased to have effect (section 9(2));
	A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally obstructs a person delivering a notice setting out the terms of a control order under section 7(9) (section 9(3)).
36.The effect of subsections (4) and (5) is that an offence under the 2005 Act will only be treated as a scheduled offence if it is alleged to have been committed after the coming into force of the Act.