Forensic science activities: statutory code of practice — version 2
Forensic Science Regulator (England and Wales) · Version 2, published 5 June 2025; came into force 2 October 2025 · 2025
Access and status
Cost
Free
Free to read or download at source. No account, no purchase.
Status
Current
Current as at the verification date below. Standards and tools both move — confirm at source before you rely on it.
What it is
The statutory code of practice the Forensic Science Regulator is required to publish under the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021, setting quality standard requirements for forensic science activities relating to the investigation of crime in England and Wales. Version 2 replaced version 1 and came into force on 2 October 2025.
Who it is for, and when
Read it if you provide forensic services into the criminal justice system of England and Wales, because compliance is a statutory matter and non-compliance is admissible material for the defence. It absorbed the former standalone digital forensics appendix, so it is now the single place to look for the digital requirements.
What it does not cover
It applies only to England and Wales and only to activities designated as forensic science activities under the 2021 Act — it says nothing about civil, regulatory or internal corporate investigations. It sets requirements rather than methods: the technical how-to lives in the Regulator's separate guidance such as FSR-G-218. The earlier digital-specific appendix FSR-C-107 is marked obsolete on gov.uk.
Go to the source
Open at gov.uk (opens in a new tab)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/forensic-science-activities-statutory-code-of-practice-version-2
Details
- Type
- Standard or guidance
- Written for
- Working examinerLawyers and courtsWorking examiner, Lawyers and courts
- Publisher
- Forensic Science Regulator (England and Wales)
- Version verified
- Version 2, published 5 June 2025; came into force 2 October 2025
- Year
- 2025
- Topics
- uk-practice, quality-assurance, lab-accreditation, legal-admissibility, validation
- Checked at source
- Standards are revised. Confirm the current revision with the publisher before citing this.
Related entries
ISO/IEC 17025 — General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
PaywalledThe 30-page accreditation standard against which forensic laboratories, including digital forensics units, are assessed for technical competence, impartiality and consistent operation. The third edition (2017) replaced the 2005 edition and was confirmed on systematic review in 2023.
NIST's long-running programme that builds tool specifications, test assertions, test procedures and test data for categories of forensic function — disk imaging, hardware and software write blocking, deleted file recovery, file carving, string searching, media preparation, mobile device and cloud data extraction, Windows registry and SQLite tools — and publishes the resulting test reports with DHS Science and Technology.
A CFTT offshoot that packages NIST's test methodology so labs can run it themselves and optionally share results: distributed as bootable Linux ISOs and a portable Windows web-server build, with report templates. Current suites cover disk imaging, forensic media preparation, hardware write blocking, string searching, SQLite recovery, mobile device acquisition and cloud data extraction, with companion datasets in CFReDS.
A 65-page manual from ENFSI's Forensic Information Technology working group covering personnel, equipment, accommodation, peer review, examination protocols, validation and uncertainty of measurement, proficiency testing, handling items, case assessment and prioritisation. It is one of ten ENFSI best practice manuals issued in November 2015 under the EU-funded TEFSBPM project.
The Regulator's guidance on applying the validation requirements of the code of practice to digital forensic methods: demonstrating that a method is fit for its specific intended purpose and that its limitations are understood and stated.