UK Offence Report

Citation, commencement and interpretation

regulation 1(2) of The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Communications by Auditors) Regulations 2001

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

“relevant requirement” means—

a requirement which is imposed by or under any provision of the Act other than Part VI (listing) and which relates to authorisation under the Act (whether by way of permission under Part IV of the Act or otherwise) or to the carrying on of any regulated activity; or

a requirement which is imposed by or under any other Act and whose contravention constitutes an offence which the Authority has power to prosecute under the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an authority
Conduct
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
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 an authority 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 1(2)?

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. Moving, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Communications by Auditors) Regulations 2001, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
17 July 2001
In force from
Not determined
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 apply to any person who is, or has been, an auditor of a person authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“the Act”) and who has been appointed pursuant to a statutory provision. Such an auditor is obliged to communicate to the Financial Services Authority (“the Authority”) information on matters (or his opinion on matters) of which he has become aware in his capacity as an auditor. The obligation also applies to matters of which such an auditor has become aware in his capacity as auditor of a person who has “close links” (as defined in section 343(8) of the Act) with an authorised person. Regulation 2 sets out the circumstances in which the obligation applies. An auditor must communicate matters to the Authority if he reasonably believes that, as regards the authorised person concerned, there has been or may be a contravention of any relevant requirement (as defined in regulation 1) that applies to that person which may be of material significance to the Authority in determining whether to exercise any of the functions conferred on the Authority by or under the Act (other than listing functions). The obligation to communicate also applies where the auditor reasonably believes that the matters may be of material significance to the Authority in determining whether the person satisfies and will continue to satisfy the conditions set out in Schedule 6 to the Act (“the threshold conditions”). The obligation also applies where the auditor reasonably believes that the authorised person concerned is not, may not be or may cease to be a going concern. An auditor is also obliged to communicate to the Authority where he is precluded from stating in his report on the annual accounts, or, where required by an enactment which is specified in regulation 2(2)(d), any other financial reports, that they conform with the applicable legislation or where he is required by the enactment specified in regulation 2(2)(e) to state certain facts in his report. These Regulations give effect, in part, to European Parliament and Council Directive 95/26/EC (OJ No. L168, 18.7.1995, p.7) amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 92/49/EEC in the field of non-life insurance, Directives 79/267/EEC and 92/96/EEC in the field of life assurance, Directive 93/22/EEC in the field of investment firms and Directive 85/611/EEC in the field of undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) with a view to reinforcing prudential supervision. These Regulations also give effect, in part, to Directive 2000/12/EC (OJ No. L126, 26.5.2000, p.1) relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.88 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