Part 9: Miscellaneous and General Chapter 1: Miscellaneous Section 158: Powers of NCA officers in relation to customs matters
This section forms part of the law of the United Kingdom.
	Section 10 of the 2013 Act enables the Director General of the NCA to designate NCA officers with three different sets of powers:
	the powers and privileges of a constable;
	the powers of an officer of Revenue and Customs; and
	the powers of an immigration officer.
	Section 9 of the 2013 Act similarly enables the Home Secretary to designate the Director General with the same set of powers.
	Subsections (2) and (3) amend sections 9 and 10 of the 2013 Act respectively to provide for the Director General and NCA officers to be designated with the powers of a general customs official (as defined in the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009).
	New powers in relation to general customs matters are now ordinarily conferred on "general customs officials" (who are usually Border Force officials).
	This is because Border Force officials have taken over "general customs" work and HMRC officers no longer require access to newly created general customs powers, for example, powers in relation to drug-cutting agents and psychoactive substances.
	However the effect of this is that the automatic conferral mechanism, set out in the 2013 Act, of the "powers of an officer of Revenue and Customs" is no longer an effective mechanism by which to ensure NCA officers have access to new general customs powers.
	This amendment will allow a suitably designated NCA officer to access only the general customs official powers that they need to pursue NCA functions in respect of customs matters.
	Subsection (4) amends Schedule 5 to the 2013 Act to set out the limitations on the powers that NCA officers receive via this designation.
	NCA officers are limited to exercising powers in relation to their NCA functions (as set out in section 1 of the 2013 Act). The NCA’s core functions, are crime reduction function to combat serious and organised crime and a criminal intelligence function to combat serious and organised crime and any other kind of crime.
	This amendment mirrors the current approach to limiting the powers that NCA officers receive via their designation as an officer of Revenue and Customs. As a result, NCA officers designated with the powers of a 'general customs official' may exercise these powers in relation to 'customs matters only' (as defined section 9(8) of the 2013 Act) and solely for the purpose of carrying out a NCA function.