UK Offence Report

Offences in connection with applications for licence, conditions attaching to licences, etc.

article 14(1) of The Serbia and Montenegro (United Nations Sanctions) Order 1993

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 for the purposes of obtaining any licence under this Order any person makes any statement or furnishes any document or information which to his knowledge is false in

a material particular or recklessly makes any statement or furnishes any document or information which is false in

a material particular he shall be guilty of an offence under this Order.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

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

The defence, as drafted

proceedings for an offence in contravention of this article it shall be a defence for the accused person to prove that he did not know and had no reason to believe that the services in question were to be provided for the purposes of any business carried on in Serbia or Montenegro.

What would breach article 14(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Serbia and Montenegro (United Nations Sanctions) Order 1993.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1993-05-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
30 April 1993
In force from
1 May 1993
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order, made under the United Nations Act 1946, gives effect in the United Kingdom to certain provisions of a decision of the Security Council of the United Nations in Resolution No. 820 of 17th April 1993. It provides for the impounding of ships, goods vehicles and aircraft which are majority owned or effectively controlled by persons connected with Serbia and Montenegro or which are determined to have been operated or used in violation of relevant Security Council Resolutions, and for the forfeiture of any such ships, vehicles, aircraft or their cargo where they have been determined to be in violation of those Resolutions. The Order restricts the provision of services for the purposes of any business carried on in Serbia or Montenegro. It also prohibits the entry of UK-registered and certain other commercial ships into the territorial sea of Montenegro.

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 0.92.

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