Phone SeizedUnited KingdomStopped at a port or airport: Schedule 7 and your phone
Stopped at a port or airport: Schedule 7 and your phone
What you must do, what you can refuse, and what they can do
Every claim below links to the law it comes from, with the wording quoted so you can check it yourself.
You must
Refusing is a criminal offence.
Give the examining officer any information in your possession that they request.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 5(a)
“A person who is questioned under paragraph 2 or 3 must— give the examining officer any information in his possession which the officer requests”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Provide access to your device — including unlocking it with a passcode, fingerprint or other access control — if an examining officer requires it to search the device.
Schedule 7 (Terrorism Act 2000) Code of Practice (Oct 2025), para 61
“The person must provide access to any electronic device to allow for a search to be undertaken, including where access to a device requires the person to unlock a device through application of their thumb or finger, or any other form of access control”
Read it at assets.publishing.service.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Wilfully failing to comply with any duty imposed under this power is a criminal offence.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 18(1)(a)
“A person commits an offence if he— wilfully fails to comply with a duty imposed under or by virtue of this Schedule”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Refusing is punishable by up to three months' imprisonment on summary conviction.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 18(2)(a)
“A person guilty of an offence under this paragraph shall be liable on summary conviction to— imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
What they can do
A power the law gives them over you or your device.
An examining officer can use these powers whether or not they have any grounds for suspecting you individually.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 2(4)
“An examining officer may exercise his powers under this paragraph whether or not he has grounds for suspecting that a person falls within section 40(1)(b).”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
The power exists to determine whether you appear to be a person concerned in terrorism — it is not evidence that you are already suspected of anything.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 2(1)
“An examining officer may question a person to whom this paragraph applies for the purpose of determining whether he appears to be a person falling within section 40(1)(b).”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Information an examining officer can request under this power explicitly includes passwords to electronic devices.
Schedule 7 (Terrorism Act 2000) Code of Practice (Oct 2025), para 55
“Information requested by an examining officer under paragraph 5(a) may include passwords to electronic devices.”
Read it at assets.publishing.service.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
An examining officer questioning you under this power can also search your person as part of determining whether you fall within its scope.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 8(1)(a)
“An examining officer who questions a person under paragraph 2 may, for the purpose of determining whether he falls within section 40(1)(b)— search the person”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
An examining officer who is a constable can copy anything obtained, searched or found under these powers, including electronic data.
Schedule 7 (Terrorism Act 2000) Code of Practice (Oct 2025), para 68
“An examining officer who is a constable may copy anything obtained under paragraph 5, searched or found on a search under paragraph 8, or anything examined under paragraph 9 and this includes making copies of electronic data.”
Read it at assets.publishing.service.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Limits on them
A rule that constrains them, or a remedy you can use.
A device can be detained for examination for up to seven days from when the detention begins.
Terrorism Act 2000, Sch.7 para 11(2)(a)
“An examining officer may detain the thing— for the purpose of examination, for a period not exceeding seven days beginning with the day on which the detention commences”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
A different power, a different rulebook
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 lets an examining officer stop you at a port, airport or the border area to determine whether you appear to be someone concerned in terrorism. It does not need any suspicion about you personally, and it can be used whether or not the officer has any grounds for thinking you specifically are involved in anything.
That alone puts it outside how policing normally works in this country, where reasonable grounds are usually the starting point rather than an afterthought.
There is no right to silence here
Once you are being questioned under this power, you are under a legal duty to give the examining officer any information in your possession that they request. That duty explicitly extends to your device: the information an officer can ask for includes passwords to electronic devices, and you must provide access to a device to allow it to be searched — including unlocking it with a passcode, thumbprint, or any other access control.
Wilfully failing to comply with any duty this Schedule imposes is a criminal offence, carrying up to three months’ imprisonment on summary conviction.
What officers can do to the device itself
Beyond questioning, an examining officer can search your person as part of determining whether you fall within the Schedule, and if they are a constable, they can copy anything obtained, searched or found under these powers — including making copies of electronic data. A device itself can be detained for examination for up to seven days from when the detention starts.
Where to go for the rest of it
This page covers the seizure and device side of a Schedule 7 stop. For the full picture — how long an examination itself can last, what happens if you are detained rather than just examined, and what protections still apply — see rightsandlimits.com’s Schedule 7 page.
Last reviewed 2026-09-08. Next review due 2026-12-08. No lawyer has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.