UK Offence Report

Offence to disclose without authorisation

regulation 3(1) of The Provision of Confidential Statistical Informationto the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Restriction on Disclosure) Regulations 1991 (revoked)

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

1 If any officer or employee of the SOEC or any individual who, under

a contract for services with the SOEC, is required to carry out duties on the premises of the SOEC, knowingly or recklessly discloses within Great Britain confidential statistical information without the authority of the member State who provided that information to the SOEC, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable–

a on summary conviction, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months, or

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both;

b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years, or

a fine, or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an officer
Conduct
acting without the licence or authorisation required
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 3(1)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where an officer provided that information to the SOEC, that person.
  2. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Provision of Confidential Statistical Informationto the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Restriction on Disclosure) Regulations 1991.
  3. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
  4. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
7 December 1991
In force from
1 January 1992
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 implement article 6 of Council Regulation (EURATOM, EEC) No. 1588/90 of 11th June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (“the SOEC”). The Regulations make it an offence for an officer or employee of the SOEC or an individual working under a contract for services with the SOEC on its premises knowingly or recklessly to disclose within Great Britain statistical information which has been provided by a member State to the SOEC in accordance with article 3 of the Council Regulation and which has been declared or classified as confidential by the member State in accordance with its law or national practice. The offence is punishable on summary conviction by a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months, or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both, or on conviction on indictment by a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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