UK Offence Report

Meaning of “drug trafficking”

paragraph 1(1)(f) of SCHEDULE 3 of The Drug Trafficking Act 1994 (Designated Countries and Territories) Order 1996

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

f conduct which is an offence under section

49 of this Act or which would be such an offence if it took place in England and Wales;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 1(1)(f) of SCHEDULE 3?

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 took place in England and Wales.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 (Designated Countries and Territories) Order 1996.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 49 of this Act.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

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
19 November 1996
In force from
1 January 1997
Extent
E+W

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.

The Drug Trafficking Act 1994, which came into force on 3rd February 1995, consolidated and re-enacted the provisions of the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986, as amended. This Order, which comes into force on 1st January 1997, provides that, subject to certain modifications, the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 applies to an order made by a court in a designated country or territory for the purpose of recovering payments or other rewards received in connection with drug trafficking or their value, and to proceedings which have been or are to be instituted in a designated country or territory and may result in such an order being made there. It also provides, in article 8, that the value of any property recovered in a designated country or territory in response to a request by the Government of the United Kingdom for assistance in the enforcement of an order is to be treated as reducing the amount payable in England and Wales under a confiscation order made by the Crown Court. Article 3 of the Order designates the countries and territories listed in Schedule 1 for the purposes of enforcement of confiscation orders, and applies the provisions of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, with modifications, to confiscation orders of court in those countries and territories and proceedings which may lead to such an order being made. The modifications to the Act are set out in Schedule 2 to the Order and Schedule 3 sets out in full that Act as so modified. Article 10 revokes the Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 (Designated Countries and Territories) Order 1990; the countries and territories designated under that Order are designated under this Order, together with a number of countries and territories which are designated for the first time.

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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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