27.The Additional Protocol requires the UK to provide the IAEA with certain rights of access to premises, and rights to carry out certain activities there. This section confers on IAEA inspectors the powers necessary to achieve this.
28.Subsections (1), (2) and (4) empower IAEA inspectors and officers authorised by the Secretary of State to enter premises as provided for in Articles 4, 5 and 9 of the Additional Protocol and give the inspectors a right to carry out there the activities provided for in Articles 6 and 9 respectively.
29.Subsection (2) makes clear that these rights are subject to the constraints laid down in relation to them by the Additional Protocol, and by the provisions of the Safeguards Agreement so far as applicable. These constraints include conditions in Article 4 of the Additional Protocol to which the rights of access under Articles 4 and 5 are subject and limits in Article 4 on the purposes for which, circumstances in which, or extent to which those rights may be exercised. All the access rights are also subject to any arrangements for "managed access" made under Article 7: this means access subject to special conditions at the request of the Secretary of State or a person concerned in order to protect sensitive items or information - for example on grounds of commercial or proliferation sensitivity. Article 6 limits the range of activities which can be carried out at each type of location. If the UK and the IAEA agree under Article 13 on any "subsidiary arrangements" about how measures in the Additional Protocol are to be applied, it will only be permissible to exercise the rights given by this section in accordance with those arrangements.
30.Article 6 of the Additional Protocol allows further activities to be defined by the IAEA in future, after consulting the UK, which inspectors will then also be entitled to carry out. So that anyone whose land may be visited by an inspector can know what any such further activities are, subsection (3)(a) enables the Secretary of State to specify these activities in an order made by statutory instrument. An inspector will have no right to carry out these activities until they have been so specified. Subsection (3)(b) enables the Secretary of State to specify in such an order the procedural arrangements for carrying out wide-area environmental sampling, if in future the IAEA approves the use of such sampling under Article 9 of the Additional Protocol.
31.Subsection (5) provides for a police constable to give assistance requested by an IAEA inspector or an authorised officer accompanying an inspector, including using reasonable force if necessary.
32.Subsection (6) enables the Secretary of State to certify conclusively any facts relevant to whether a person was an IAEA inspector while purporting to exercise powers under this section, if that is ever in doubt in court proceedings.
33.Under paragraph (a) of subsection (7) it will be a criminal offence wilfully to obstruct an inspector or authorised officer exercising these powers; under paragraphs (b) and (c), it will be an offence to interfere with anything placed on land by an inspector, or not to comply with a reasonable request made by an inspector, authorised officer or police constable to facilitate exercise of the powers conferred by this section, unless there is a reasonable excuse.
Commentary on Sections Section 5: Rights of access etc. for Agency inspectors