UK Offence Report

Prior information on relevant transfers

regulation 3(3) of The Cross-Border Credit Transfers Regulations 1999

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

3 If an institution fails without reasonable excuse to comply with paragraph (1) it shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 institution
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 institution 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

3 If an institution fails without reasonable excuse to comply with paragraph (1) it shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 3(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Cross-Border Credit Transfers Regulations 1999.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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 June 1999
In force from
14 August 1999
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 give effect to Directive 97/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on cross-border credit transfers (O.J. L43, 14.2.97, page 25). The Directive applies to EEA States which are not EC member States, and to cross-border credit transfers in the currencies of those States, by virtue of Decision No. 1/98 of the EEA Joint Committee dated 30th January 1998 (O.J. L272, 8.10.98, page 1). The Regulations lay down certain standard conditions for cross-border credit transfers not exceeding 50,000 euro or its equivalent in another currency of a State within the European Economic Area. A cross-border credit transfer is defined as a transaction or series of transactions carried out as a result of instructions given directly to an institution in one EEA State, the purpose of which is to make available to the ultimate recipient of the funds transferred at an institution in another EEA State an amount in euro or another currency of an EEA State. The Regulations set out the minimum information which must be made available to the actual and prospective customers of an institution which participates in the carrying out of cross-border credit transfers, and which must be given by an institution to customers on whose behalf it has carried out such a transfer. The Regulations enable a customer to seek undertakings regarding the time it will take to carry out a transfer and the charges to be made in connection therewith, and make provision for such undertakings to be deemed to be part of the contract made between a customer and his institution. They also lay down maximum periods for the carrying out of a transfer, where there is no time limit agreed between a customer and his institution, and for payment of compensation where a transfer is completed late. If there is a failure to complete a transfer, in certain circumstances there is an obligation on an institution to refund to its customer the amount of the failed transfer, subject to an upper limit of 12,500 euro or its equivalent in another currency of an EEA State, together with associated charges and interest. In other cases an institution is obliged to use all reasonable endeavours to trace and recover the amount of the failed transfer. The Regulations also make provision regarding charging for cross-border credit transfers, and for the recovery of sums deducted from the amount transferred in contravention of the customer’s instructions. A regulatory impact assessment in respect of these Regulations, including an assessment of the costs of compliance, is available from the Public Enquiry Unit, Room 89/2, HM Treasury, Parliament Street, London SW1P 3AG.

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