Part 1: Espionage, sabotage and persons acting for foreign powers Preparatory conduct Section 18: Preparatory conduct
Subsection (1) provides that it is an offence to engage in preparatory conduct with the intention that an act specified under subsection (3) will be committed. The offence is committed if, in carrying out the conduct a person intends that they, or another person, will commit the relevant act or acts, and that the conduct is preparatory to such acts. There is no requirement that the relevant act or acts are subsequently committed.
	Subsection (2) is included to confirm that a person commits the offence if they engage in conduct either with the intention that it is preparatory to specific acts (within subsection (3)) or to acts (within subsection (3)) in general. The conduct does not have to be carried out with the intention that a specific identifiable act will be committed, if the person intends that acts in general will be committed. Where a person intends their conduct to be preparatory to a number of acts, the offence will be committed even if the person, or another person, has yet to choose which of those acts they will subsequently commit.
Example (where the ultimate outcome of the preparatory conduct is unclear)
Person X is tasked by a foreign intelligence service to drop an infected USB stick inside a sensitive government site. Person X intends for the USB stick to be plugged into a sensitive government system and that information on the system will be compromised as a result. The person is arrested before the USB stick is plugged into the system. At the point of arrest, it is unclear whether the compromise would have led to an act of sabotage or the obtaining or disclosing of protected information, but the person’s intention is that either of those offences will be committed.
	The acts in subsection (3) include acts which constitute the following offences in this Act - obtaining or disclosing protected information (section 1), obtaining, or disclosing trade secrets (section 2), entering etc a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK (section 4) and sabotage (section 12).
	Subsection (3)(b) and (4) bring into scope a range of broader acts where the foreign power condition applies – namely serious violence against a person, endangering the life of another person or creating a serious risk to the health and safety of the public.
	Subsection (5) provides that this offence captures conduct that is carried out both in the UK or elsewhere. However, there must be a connection between the act that the conduct is preparatory to and the UK. If the act constitutes an offence listed in subsection (3)(a), preparatory conduct that takes place outside of the UK will be caught only to the extent that the relevant offence applies to conduct that occurs outside of the UK. If the act in question is one listed in subsection (4), preparatory conduct that takes place outside of the UK will be caught only to the extent that the act is directed against a person or the public in the UK.
	Subsection (6) provides that the maximum available penalty applicable on conviction of the offence: namely imprisonment for life or a fine (or both). The inclusion of a fine is in recognition that the offence can be committed by bodies corporate.