The Criminal Justice ( Terrorism and Conspiracy ) Act 1998 was adopted after the August 15 , 1998 Real IRA bombing in Omagh , Northern Ireland . It followed statutes drafted in response to acts of terrorism such as the Prevention of Terrorism ( Temporal Provisions ) Act introduced following the 1974 Birmingham bombings . During the parliamentary debate , then Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the decision to include the offence to conspire in the UK offences to be committed abroad was made as part of the government 's total commitment to defeating terrorism wherever it is plotted or executed . A related law called 1999 Criminal Justice Act was also passed in Ireland in response to the Omagh bombing . Several other laws combating terrorism were introduced afterward and a number of these replaced parts of the Criminal Justice Act . For instance , the terrorism provisions ( sections 1-4 ) have been repealed and incorporated in the Terrorism Act 2000 , leaving the conspiracy provisions ( sections 5-7 ) . The high number of terrorism-related statutes is attributed to the emergent legal activism in the UK , which is driven by the fear on the part of legislators of being blamed for inaction after the incidence of a terror event . There is also the public 's increasing willingness to give up civil liberties in favor of counter-terrorism . In the legislation , an act would constitute an offence to conspire to carry out an offence in another jurisdiction if : An offender accused of violating the Criminal Justice ( Terrorism and Conspiracy ) Act 1998 was charged contrary to s1 ( A ) of the Criminal Law Act of 1977 . Section 8 of the Act required the Secretary of State to report before the Parliament the working of the statute at least once every year . This particular provision was abolished in 2002 based on a recommendation that the annual review did not contribute any real value to the scrutiny through the judicial process of the working of the Act
1974 Birmingham bombings
Birmingham pub bombings
Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act 1998