UK Offence Report

Offences and defences

regulation 9(1) of The Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) (No.2) Regulations 1992 (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 A person operating

a bureau de change who contravenes any provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of

a criminal 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 9(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 a person contravenes any provision of these Regulations.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) (No.2) Regulations 1992, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
12 March 1992
In force from
17 May 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 revoke and replace the Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) Regulations 1992 before those Regulations come into force. These Regulations apply to any individual or other body which carries on the business of a bureau de change in the course of which foreign currency is sold to individuals or bought from them in exchange for sterling, otherwise than for the purposes of their businesses (“consumers”). The Regulations regulate the manner in which a person who holds himself out as operating a bureau de change at any premises gives at those premises an indication to consumers of the rate at which business may be done (an “exchange rate indication”) (regulation 3). Exchange rate indications must state the terms on which transactions will be conducted and provide other information including any commission or other charges. However, where a consumer requests information about the terms on which a particular transaction will be conducted, only information relevant to that transaction need be given. When an exchange rate indication is given and there is to be an interval between the placing of the order and the supply of the currency during which rates may change, particulars of how the exchange rate and any commission or other charge will be determined must be given before the order is placed (regulation 4). Special provision is made in relation to coin operated machines (regulation 7). Exchange rate indications and related information are to be given clearly and prominently and either legibly or audibly (regulation 5). The Regulations require that a receipt setting out the terms of the transaction must be provided to the consumer in all cases except that of a transaction conducted through a machine. The issue of receipts in the latter case is only required if the machine is designed to supply receipts and the consumer requests one, but is not required at all where the machine exchanges coins only (regulation 6). An exchange rate indication must be accurate and no suggestion may be made that it is not to be relied on (regulation 8). Criminal penalties are provided for breach of the Regulations (regulation 9). The Regulations come into force on 18th May 1992 except for the provision relating to the clarity etc. of statements accompanying exchange rate indications and the requirement to display corresponding rates for notes and travellers' cheques, both of which come into force on 18th May 1993, and the provision revoking the Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) Regulations which comes into force on 17th May 1992 (regulation 1).

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