Metal Detecting Laws in Jersey

Jersey has clear permission rules for detecting at sites of special interest and in parks covered by its Policing of Parks Regulations. A general answer for hobby detecting elsewhere remains unconfirmed, including on beaches, in public woodland and on private land. The 2026 Heritage Law also needs care: the available official text establishes Royal Assent, but does not establish when the law commenced or which implementing regulations are operative. Those gaps are not permission to search, dig or keep a find.

The rules, land by land

Even where detecting is allowed, archaeological and historic sites are protected, and you must fill every hole and follow posted rules. Always confirm the current rule with the land manager.

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The 2026 Heritage Law

The Privy Council approved the Heritage (Jersey) Law on June 3, 2026. Article 24 of the annexed law says it comes into force on a day specified by the Minister by Order. The sources supporting this guide do not establish that commencement date or the operative implementing regulations.

The annex includes an archaeological-object reporting scheme and provisions for treasure trove and Jersey national antiquities. This guide does not present those provisions as currently operative. Article 18 also empowers the States to make regulations licensing archaeological excavations; that power alone does not establish a general detector permit or ban.

Protected sites and digging

Article 55 of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 regulates metal- and mineral-detecting devices at or on a site of special interest. You need the Chief Officer’s permission unless the activity is already specified as permitted in the site’s entry on the List of Sites of Special Interests.

At a site whose special interest is archaeological, article 55 also covers inserting a probe, digging a hole or excavation, and removing sand, stone, gravel, earth or rock. Permission can be given through a notice displayed on or near the site. Follow its conditions; an application requires the prescribed form, supporting particulars and any prescribed fee.

The government’s archaeology guidance likewise says detecting over a Listed place needs specific permission. These are controls for designated sites; they do not settle the general hobby-detecting rule for every place where an archaeological object might be found.

Parks covered by the park regulations

Regulation 4 of the Policing of Parks (Jersey) Regulations 2005 requires written permission from the park authority to operate a device capable of locating or detecting buried objects. Follow the permission’s conditions and restrictions. The public right of access in regulation 2 does not waive that requirement.

The Regulations apply only to the land edged green on their Schedule plans. They should not be read as a rule for every place called a park or for the whole of Jersey National Park. This guide makes no determination about particular mapped boundaries.

For most parks owned or administered by the States, the park authority is the Minister for Infrastructure. For parish parks, it is the parish Connétable. Regulation 1 assigns three specified States facilities to the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning.

Regulation 3 prohibits activities likely to damage a park or disrupt its maintenance, as well as damage to plants or park features. Acting in accordance with permission under regulation 4(1) is a statutory defense to a charge under regulation 3(1).

Beaches, woodland, nature reserves and private land

General permission for beach detecting and target recovery remains unconfirmed. The Policing of Beaches (Jersey) Regulations 1959 cover sea beaches and slipways, but their conduct and permission provisions do not provide a general detector authorization. They preserve other enactments and Crown rights. Where land is a site of special interest, the separate article 55 controls apply.

The government describes countryside paths across public and private land, often through Jersey National Park. That access guidance does not authorize detector searching or recovery. A general detector rule for public woodland, the National Park and all nature reserves remains unconfirmed here. The Countryside code asks visitors to stay on marked paths, follow signs, and leave plants, animals and habitats unharmed.

For private land, Jersey Heritage’s finds leaflet says to ask permission before deliberately searching. Landowner agreement alone does not establish that detecting and digging are lawful under the complete current rules. Designated-site restrictions still matter, and the unresolved Heritage Law commencement and implementing rules remain relevant.

Treasure, other finds and reporting

The complete current ownership and reporting rules for treasure, archaeological finds and ordinary lost objects remain unconfirmed. Jersey Heritage’s undated Recording Jersey’s Heritage leaflet states that treasure trove belongs to the Crown, must by law be reported to the Receiver General, and may bring the finder a reward. It gives no numerical reporting deadline.

For other finds, the leaflet asks finders to contact the Finds Officer at Jersey Archive and the landowner. This older guidance and the Royal-Assented 2026 text do not establish the full current regime without the commencement evidence. A general right to keep ordinary lost objects, and the complete reporting duties for them, are not established here.

Wreck has its own statutory rules, described below. An export-license requirement is a different matter from a duty to report a discovery; it does not answer the reporting question.

Reporting wreck and delivering cargo

For wreck connected with a Jersey or foreign vessel wrecked, stranded or in distress on or near Jersey’s coast or in tidal water within Jersey waters, the Shipping (Jersey) Law 2002 requires notification to the Receiver of wreck and compliance with the applicable custody or delivery duties. Article 136(1) expressly applies articles 137–140 to those vessel-casualty circumstances.

Article 140 itself describes finding or taking possession of wreck in Jersey waters, or finding or taking possession outside those waters and bringing it within them. Article 141 repeats that geography. The cited provisions do not resolve how this wording relates to article 136’s scope, so this guide does not declare other wreck exempt.

Under article 140, an owner must notify the Receiver and describe the identifying marks. A nonowner must notify the Receiver and, as directed, hold the wreck to the Receiver’s order or deliver it. Article 142 separately requires delivery of cargo or other articles belonging to or separated from a vessel in the coastal-casualty circumstances described above, when they are washed ashore or otherwise lost or taken from the vessel. That delivery duty applies to owners as well as nonowners.

Article 142 makes it an offense for a person, whether the owner or not, to conceal or keep possession of that cargo or those articles, or refuse delivery to the Receiver or a person authorized by the Receiver to require it. Articles 140 and 142 give no numerical finder-notification or delivery deadline. The 48-hour record-making duty in article 143 belongs to the Receiver after taking possession, not to the finder.

The Receiver of wreck is appointed under article 128A. It is a separate office and procedure from the Receiver General named in the treasure-trove leaflet.

Who owns wreck?

Finding wreck does not make you its owner. Under article 146, wreck found in Jersey or Jersey waters becomes States of Jersey property if it remains in the Receiver’s possession one year after receipt and no person has established ownership.

An owner who establishes a claim within one year after the Receiver receives the wreck is entitled to delivery or sale proceeds after paying the salvage, fees and expenses due under article 144. Article 146 also provides for salvage payments or fair compensation in the circumstances it specifies; those payments do not give the finder a general right to retain the wreck.

Article 128’s definition includes jetsam, flotsam, lagan and derelict found in or on the shores of the sea or tidal water. These wreck provisions do not classify every beach find as wreck.

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