Section 52 creates two new criminal offences of possessing any specified article where the person possessing the article intends, or has reasonable grounds to suspect, that it will be used in connection with any serious offence; and of importation, manufacture, adaptation, supply or, offering to supply a specified article where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the article will be used in any serious offence. For the purposes of these criminal offences, "serious offence" means the serious offences specified in Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007. These include offences such as fraud, money laundering, terrorism, and drug and people trafficking.
	Subsections (1) and (2) create the offences of possession and importation, manufacture, adaptation, supply or offering to supply an item (listed in section 53 (1)), referred to as a ‘relevant article’, in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that the article will be used in connection with any serious offence.
	Subsection (3) provides a defence for a person charged with one of the above offences if they can prove that they did not intend or suspect that the article would be used in connection with a serious offence.
	Subsection (4) explains that a court can assume a person possessed the relevant article if there is proof that (a) the accused was in the same location as the relevant article, or (b) the relevant article was present in the location where the accused resided, or a location that the accused used habitually other than as a member of the public. The court cannot assume possession in this way where the accused shows they did not know of the article’s presence on the premises or that they had no control over it.
	Subsection (5) and (6) explains that a person can be considered to have successfully proven their defence if they meet two key conditions: a) the defendant provides enough evidence to raise a question about the issue in court and b) the prosecution cannot prove the opposite beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, the defendant does not have to prove their case with absolute certainty; they just need to raise enough doubt, and if the prosecution cannot disprove this doubt, the defence succeeds.
	This is a reverse evidential burden of proof. This differs from a reverse legal burden of proof, which would require the defence to prove evidence to the civil standard, which is the balance of probabilities.
	Subsection (7) defines ‘relevant article’ as that set out in section 53 and ‘serious offence’ as those offences specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 for England and Wales, Part 1A of Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 for Scotland and Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 for Northern Ireland. These offences include offences such as people trafficking, drug trafficking, bribery, and armed robbery.
	Subsection (8) sets out the maximum penalties in relation to these offences in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, respectively. The maximum penalty on summary conviction in England and Wales is imprisonment for the general limit in a magistrates’ court (currently six months) or a fine, or both. The maximum penalty on summary conviction in Scotland is 12 months’ imprisonment, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both. The maximum penalty on summary conviction in Northern Ireland is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine limited to level 5 on the standard scale (£5,000) or both. In England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland the maximum penalty for conviction on indictment is five years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both.
Part 3: Prevention of Serious Crime Offences relating to things for use in serious crime Section 52: Articles for use in serious crime