Section 17 builds on the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 relating to the forfeiture of property. Essentially, the 1994 provision empowers a court, whenever any person is convicted of an offence, to order at its discretion the forfeiture of any property in his or her possession which was used or intended to be used to facilitate the commission of the offence. The effect of section 17, in the case of a person convicted of specified offences relating to the possession of firearms or explosives and where there is property liable to forfeiture under the 1994 Act, is to require the court to order the forfeiture of such property unless it is satisfied that there would be a serious risk of injustice if it made such an order.