New legislation for England and Wales aimed at tackling the illegal use of specialist printing equipment is about to become law.The Specialist Printing Equipment and Materials (Offences) Act received Royal Assent on March 27 and becomes law in May. The Act will make it an offence to supply specialist printing equipment knowing that it will be used for criminal purposes, including the production of ID, passports, banknotes and tickets among other secured documents. It covers both equipment and consumables.The investigation and prosecution of criminal activity will be more straightforward under the new legislation, which could see those guilty of breaking the law fined and/or imprisoned for up to 10 years.The move also brings England and Wales in line with Section 1028 of the US Crimes and Criminal Procedure Code, which outlaws similar activity in connection with ID documents, authorisation features and information.The Metropolitan Police anti-counterfeiting group Project Genesius provided critical guidance to the UK Home Office in drafting the Act – and a full explanation of the new legislation will be given at the SDW 2015 event this June in London.The law is being welcomed by many industry stakeholders. The trade body representing the global hologram industry – the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) – sees the Act as a 'significant' step forward in the battle to secure the production of genuine security devices such as holograms.Ian Lancaster, general secretary of the IHMA, said: "The Act will be very welcome and has to be seen as a positive move to support governments and industry in their fight against crime and terrorism at a time when ID document forgery is on the rise."This will also benefit brand owners tackling the problem of counterfeiting because they will be reassured that they will be using holograms supplied from bonafide sources as part of brand protection strategies."Remember that criminal counterfeiters have no scruples about who they supply – ID counterfeiters or brand counterfeiters, it's all the same to them."
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