Terms of Service
Effective date: 2026-09-28
Important scope statement
Airsoft Defence is a private digital record and verification service. It records information supplied by users and authorised organisations, applies configured verification criteria, and reports a resulting status. A status reported by Airsoft Defence is not itself a statutory determination, legal opinion, or guarantee that a person is legally entitled to purchase, possess, import, or use a realistic imitation firearm (RIF).
1. About these Terms
These Terms govern your use of the Airsoft Defence website, applications, APIs, verification services, Marketplace, and related services.
By creating an account or using the Service after these Terms have been presented to you, you agree to them. If you use the Service for a Site, Store, production organisation, re-enactment organisation, police force, customs authority, or other organisation, you confirm that you have authority to do so. Airsoft Defence Ltd is the contracting service provider.
2. Definitions
- Airsoft Defence, we, us, and our means Airsoft Defence Ltd.
- Service means the Airsoft Defence platform, website, applications, APIs, Marketplace, and related services.
- Defence Status means the status calculated by the Service from information held in an account against the configured criteria.
- Site means an authorised airsoft game site or participating organisation.
- Store means an authorised retailer or other organisation using the Service for checks.
- Authorised Authority means an approved police, customs, or other governmental user.
- RIF means a realistic imitation firearm within the meaning of applicable UK law.
3. Purpose and legal position
Airsoft Defence provides digital records and verification functionality intended to help users and authorised organisations maintain and check evidence relevant to RIF-related activities.
The Service may record attendance, identity verification, membership, penalty points, organisation compliance information, police holds, verification checks, and audit information. Information is substantially supplied by players, Sites, Stores, authorities, and other authorised users. Airsoft Defence does not independently establish that every supplied fact is true or complete.
The Service evaluates recorded information against configured criteria and reports a status. It does not itself create, grant, or certify a statutory defence and does not provide legal advice. Airsoft Defence is not a retailer, importer, seller, buyer, or broker in a RIF transaction and does not approve or complete RIF sales or imports.
Airsoft Defence is not currently claiming to be approved or formally recognised by the UK Home Office. Nothing in the Service or these Terms should be read as making that claim.
4. Account roles and permissions
The Service may support Player, Reenactor, Film & TV, Site, Store, Police, Customs, and System Staff roles. A person or organisation may hold more than one role where permitted, for example Site and Store.
Permissions are role based. Access is limited according to the role and authorisation granted. Police and Customs accounts are manually approved after Airsoft Defence reviews evidence of identity and authority. These accounts are provided without charge unless stated otherwise. Airsoft Defence may refuse, restrict, suspend, or revoke access for security, compliance, fraud prevention, misuse, or legal reasons.
5. Player accounts and age
Users aged 17 or over may create accounts. A 17-year-old may build game history before reaching 18.
An under-18 user cannot have a valid RIF-related Defence Status solely because sufficient game history exists. The Service will report the relevant status as invalid because the age requirement is not met. An under-18 user may appear in the Marketplace, but their Defence Status will show as invalid for RIF-related purposes.
Users must provide accurate information and promptly correct material inaccuracies. Users must keep credentials secure and are responsible for activity through their account except where caused by a security incident they could not reasonably prevent.
6. Player information and identity verification
Player accounts may contain name, email, password credentials, date of birth, address, telephone number, profile photograph, role, and related records.
Identity verification may be carried out by authorised Site staff or Airsoft Defence staff using checks such as whether the address appears to match, whether the photograph appears to depict the user, and whether the photograph is suitable for identification.
The current photograph process is a visual verification aid and is not represented as biometric identification. Airsoft Defence does not currently perform external government-ID document verification for ordinary player accounts. Users must not submit another person's photograph or identity information.
7. Attendance and game history
Attendance can be recorded by a player scanning a Site QR code, a Site scanning a player's QR code, or an authorised Site user searching by permitted details. An attendance record includes the player, Site, and date of check-in or attendance.
The current Player rule is at least three qualifying games with the first and third qualifying attendance at least 56 days apart, subject to all other requirements. Attendance is supplied by Sites and is not independently verified by Airsoft Defence in every case. Sites must not record false attendance. Airsoft Defence staff do not ordinarily edit attendance records, preserving the audit trail and separation from Site decisions.
8. Penalty points
Participating Sites may issue penalty points using predefined reasons and point values, with an explanatory text field. Penalty points may cause an attendance to cease counting towards Defence Status. Points expire 12 months after issue. A status may become invalid at 12 or more active points.
Players can view points and reasons. Ordinary disputes should be raised with the issuing Site, which may revoke its own points. Airsoft Defence does not ordinarily adjudicate Site penalty decisions. If the issuing Site has permanently closed, a player may request an Airsoft Defence review and provide supporting evidence. Users must not threaten or pressure Site staff because of penalty points.
9. Defence Status
The Service may report valid or invalid status and a reason such as under 18, insufficient game history, identity not verified, excessive penalty points, inactive membership, or police hold.
Player criteria currently include over 18, required game history, fewer than 12 active points, required third-party identity verification, no active police hold, and paid membership. Reenactor and Film & TV criteria apply the relevant role rules and do not use the Player game-history requirement in the same way. Status is calculated from information available to the Service and may change automatically.
Airsoft Defence does not guarantee that a status is legally sufficient for a particular transaction or import. A Store, importer, Site, or other relying party remains responsible for its own decision.
10. Police and Customs access
Approved Police users may search by permitted identifying information or scan an account QR code. Their permitted access may include name, address, email, telephone, photograph, game history, penalty points and reasons, Defence Status, and relevant hold information.
Approved Customs users may search in the same manner and receive the information appropriate to their role, including address and Defence Status.
Police users may place or remove account holds. A player-facing status may state "Invalid - Police Hold". A public-facing note may give an instruction such as contacting an identified officer or force. Restricted police notes are available only to authorised roles. Police and Customs lookups are audit logged with the account viewed, date, time, and status returned. Airsoft Defence may report suspicious behaviour or suspected misuse to relevant authorities where lawful and appropriate.
11. Stores and verification checks
Stores may search players and view permitted identity and Defence Status information. A Store may be shown name, address, email, photograph, and status where necessary for the permitted verification function.
Address information may support comparison with order information for remote or online sales. Verification checks are logged, including who viewed the account, when, and the status at the time. A Store is not required to accept a status merely because it is reported as valid.
12. Player-to-player sharing
Player-to-player access is permission based. A player does not automatically receive unrestricted access to another player's information. Access may be granted through a one-time code or permission request.
Users must not copy, publish, or redistribute another person's information for unrelated purposes.
13. Sites, Stores and organisational records
Sites and Stores must provide accurate information and maintain appropriate records relating to their use. Sites may be required to provide public liability insurance evidence. Airsoft Defence may store an insurance certificate in PDF or image form and an expiry date. Site owners may view their own insurance document and Airsoft Defence staff may access it for administration and compliance.
Sites and Stores may receive a unique URI code or other organisational identifier. Organisations must secure staff credentials and notify Airsoft Defence when access should be removed.
14. Marketplace
The Marketplace is a listing service. Unless expressly stated otherwise, Airsoft Defence is not a party to transactions between buyers and sellers.
Payments for Marketplace transactions are made outside the Service. Airsoft Defence does not hold transaction funds, guarantee delivery, or guarantee either party. Users are responsible for ensuring listings and transactions comply with law. Defence Status may be shown in listings where relevant, including an invalid under-18 status. Airsoft Defence may remove unlawful, misleading, fraudulent, or unsafe listings.
15. API and integrations
Approved third parties may use the Airsoft Defence API for functions including creating or updating records, recording attendance, searching users, retrieving permitted information, and Defence Status. API users must secure credentials, use only authorised scopes, and must not bypass web application permissions.
API activity is audit logged. Airsoft Defence may rate limit, suspend, or revoke access. Third-party developers are responsible for their applications, users, security, and legal obligations and must not represent an API result as a legal determination.
16. Payments, membership and refunds
Certain functions require payment. Player, Reenactor, Site, and Store users may pay for membership or other actions such as Marketplace listings. Membership may be annual. Required paid membership is one condition used for the relevant Defence Status.
A user may build game history before paying for membership, but paid verification functionality may remain unavailable until membership is active. Stripe processes payments. Airsoft Defence does not need to store full card credentials.
Prices, renewal, cancellation, and refund terms shown at purchase apply, subject to statutory consumer rights. Failed, reversed, or disputed payments may result in restriction of paid functions.
17. Suspension and termination
Airsoft Defence may suspend or restrict accounts for fraud, abuse, inaccurate information, security risk, unlawful activity, misuse, breach of these Terms, or lawful authority requirements.
An account may be held while information is investigated. Materially false or fraudulent accounts may be terminated. Sites may be suspended or removed for false attendance, penalty abuse, privacy misuse, or material breach. Serious suspected misuse may be reported to relevant authorities.
Termination does not necessarily delete historical records where retention is necessary for legal, security, audit, fraud-prevention, or legitimate operational purposes.
18. Accuracy, disputes and corrections
Users must report inaccurate account information. Personal-data correction requests are handled under the Privacy Policy.
Where a disputed fact was supplied by a Site or other organisation, the user may be directed to that organisation. Airsoft Defence may retain an audit trail showing corrections or superseded values. Airsoft Defence does not guarantee the truth of third-party information merely because it appears in the Service.
19. Security and acceptable use
Users must not access accounts, records, APIs, or administrative functions without authorisation.
Users must not scrape, harvest, sell, redistribute, or commercially exploit personal information except where expressly authorised. Users must not reverse engineer, overload, interfere with, or circumvent security controls. Users must not falsify attendance, identity information, or verification records.
Airsoft Defence uses security measures but cannot guarantee that an internet service is completely secure.
20. Intellectual property
Airsoft Defence and its licensors retain rights in the Service, software, interface, branding, and documentation, except for rights belonging to users or third parties.
Users retain rights they already have in submitted content but grant Airsoft Defence the permissions reasonably necessary to operate the Service. Users must not copy or reproduce the Service except as permitted by law or authorised.
21. Availability and changes
Airsoft Defence aims to operate reliably but does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability. Maintenance, infrastructure failures, security incidents, third-party services, and events outside reasonable control may affect availability.
Airsoft Defence may add, remove, or modify functionality, roles, criteria, and APIs. Material contractual changes will be notified where required. Changes to criteria may change Defence Status.
22. Liability
Nothing excludes or limits liability where unlawful, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Subject to that, Airsoft Defence is not responsible for losses caused solely by inaccurate information supplied by users or third parties. Airsoft Defence is not responsible for a Store, importer, Site, or authority decision to accept or reject a Defence Status. Airsoft Defence is not responsible for the legality of another party's RIF transaction or import. Nothing removes consumer rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
23. Changes to Terms
These Terms may be updated for changes in law, regulation, security, Service functionality, or commercial arrangements. The latest version will show its effective date. Where required, material changes will be notified. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by law.
24. Privacy and data protection
Personal data is processed under the Airsoft Defence Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy explains collection, purposes, lawful bases, sharing, retention, rights, and security. Nothing in these Terms reduces statutory data protection rights.
25. General
If a provision is invalid, the remainder continues. Failure to enforce a provision immediately does not waive the right to enforce it later. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, subject to mandatory consumer protections. The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, subject to mandatory consumer jurisdiction rights.
These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and applicable purchase terms form the agreement governing use of the Service.
26. Contact
Contact: support@airsoft-defence.co.uk. Airsoft Defence Ltd, 36 King Richards Hill, Earl Shilton, Leicester, England, LE9 7EY. Company number 17107541. ICO registration number ZC173832.