UK Offence Report

Offences, Penalties and Proceedings

article 22(6) of The Iraq (United Nations) (Sequestration of Assets) 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

6 Any person who without reasonable excuse closes an account described in article 19(1) pending

a transfer under article

20 of the amount remitted or any part of it shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

6 Any person who without reasonable excuse closes an account described in article 19(1) pending a transfer under article 20 of the amount remitted or any part of it shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

What would breach article 22(6)?

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 without reasonable excuse closes an account described in article 19(1) pending a transfer under article 20 of the amount remitted or any part of it.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Iraq (United Nations) (Sequestration of Assets) Order 1993.

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)
6 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1993-05-24); 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
12 May 1993
In force from
24 May 1993
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order is made under the United Nations Act 1946 and gives effect in the United Kingdom to a decision of the Security Council of the United Nations in Resolution No. 778 of 1992. It requires the transfer of any funds in the United Kingdom, to which specified Iraqi persons are entitled and which represent the proceeds of sale of Iraqi petroleum or petroleum products on or after 6th August 1990, to the escrow account established by the United Nations under Security Council Resolutions No. 706 and 712 of 1991, following a procedure for ascertaining entitlement to relevant funds and to petroleum or petroleum products. Funds which had already been paid to a person entitled to them or which were subject to or required to satisfy third party rights at the time of the adoption of Resolution No. 778 of 1992 are exempt from the transfer requirement. The Order also requires the sale of any petroleum or petroleum products in the United Kingdom to which specified Iraqi persons are entitled and the transfer of the proceeds of sale to the escrow account. It provides for the retransfer of any monies received by the Secretary of State or the Treasury from the Secretary General of the United Nations representing monies transferred to the escrow account back to the persons entitled to them. The Order empowers the Treasury and the Secretary of State to obtain information and documents to secure compliance with it; limits the circumstances in which information and documents obtained may be disclosed; disapplies obligations or restrictions which would conflict with the requirements of the Order; and excludes any liability which might otherwise arise in acting pursuant to or in compliance with the Order. Similar Orders are being made for the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the dependent territories.

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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