UK Offence Report

Transitional provision

regulation 3(4) of The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2016

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

4 A reference in this regulation to an offence includes

a reference to—

a an attempt to commit an offence;

b incitement to commit an offence;

c counselling or procuring the commission of an offence; and

d involvement art and part in an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 3(4)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2016.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
22 November 2016
In force from
17 December 2016
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations bring into force paragraphs 2, 4 and 5 of the schedule of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (“the Act”) on 17th December 2016. Those paragraphs repeal offences under section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 (traffic in prostitution etc.), section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 (trafficking people for exploitation) and section 47 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour) which are replaced by offences under sections 1 and 4 of the Act. Sections 1 and 4 of the Act were commenced on 31st May 2016. Regulation 3 of these Regulations makes provision for cases where an accused is charged with both an offence being repealed by paragraphs 2, 4 or 5 of the schedule of the Act (“the repealed offences”) and an offence under section 1 or 4 of the Act and it is not established that the conduct in respect of which the accused is charged occurred during the period between the coming into force of the section 1 and 4 offences on 31st May 2016 and the repeal of the repealed offences on 17th December 2016. In such circumstances, the accused may be convicted of the relevant repealed offence, provided the court or jury is in every other respect satisfied that the accused committed that offence. The Bill for the Act received Royal Assent on 4th November 2015. Section 45(1) of the Act brought into force sections 40, 41, 42, 44, 45 and 46 on the day after Royal Assent.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.96.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.96 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source