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Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. Legislation and case law change. Always consult a qualified solicitor for your specific situation.

UK Law Reference
All sections of Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025
2025 c. 31, s.13

Section 13 — Supplying articles for use in immigration crime

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

This version in force from 2026-01-05

Snapshot: 2026-08-24

Reproduced from legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Amendments made after 2026-08-24 may not be reflected — always check the official text .

(1) A person (“P”) commits an offence if—

(a) P supplies or offers to supply a relevant article to another person, and

(b) at the time P does so, P knows or suspects that the relevant article is to be used by any person in connection with an offence under section 24 or 25 of the Immigration Act 1971 (illegal entry etc and assisting unlawful immigration).

(2) A person (“P”) commits an offence if—

(a) P is concerned in the supplying of, or the making of an offer to supply, a relevant article to another person, and

(b) at any time when P is concerned in that act, P knows that the relevant article is to be used by any person in connection with an offence under section 24 or 25 of the Immigration Act 1971.

(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to show that they had a reasonable excuse for the action mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (2)(a) (as the case may be).

(4) The cases in which a person has a reasonable excuse for the purposes of subsection (3) include (but are not limited to) those in which—

(a) their action was for the purposes of carrying out a rescue of a person from danger or serious harm, or

(b) they were acting on behalf of an organisation which—

(i) aims to assist asylum-seekers, and

(ii) does not charge for its services.

(5) A person is regarded as having shown that they had a reasonable excuse for their action if—

(a) sufficient evidence of that matter is adduced to raise an issue with respect to it, and

(b) the contrary is not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

(6) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

(7) In this section and sections 14 and 16 “asylum-seeker” means a person who intends to claim that to remove them from or require them to leave the United Kingdom would be contrary to the United Kingdom’s obligations under—

(a) the Refugee Convention (within the meaning given by section 167(1) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999), or

(b) the Human Rights Convention (within the meaning given by that section).