UK Offence Report

Systems and training etc. to prevent money laundering

regulation 3(2) of The Money Laundering Regulations 2003

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 A person who contravenes this regulation is guilty of an offence and liable—

a on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

2 years, to

a fine or to both;

b on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 regulation 3(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes this regulation.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Money Laundering Regulations 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (revoked)
Revoked on
15 December 2007
Made
28 November 2003
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations replace the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001 with updated provisions which reflect Directive 2001/97/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 91/308/EEC on prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering. A Transposition Note setting out how the main elements of Directive 2001/97/EC will be transposed into UK law is available from the Financial Systems and International Standards Team, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ. The Transposition Note is also on HM Treasury’s website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk). A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. A copy is likewise available from the Treasury and can be found on the Treasury’s website. Where business relationships are formed, or one-off transactions are carried out, in the course of relevant business (defined in regulation 2), the persons carrying out such relevant business are required to maintain certain identification procedures (regulation 4), record-keeping procedures (regulation 6) and internal reporting procedures (regulation 7) and to establish other appropriate procedures for the purpose of forestalling or preventing money laundering (regulation 3(1)(b)). They are also required to train their employees in those procedures and, more generally, in the recognition of money laundering transactions and the law relating to money laundering (regulation 3(1)(c)). A person who fails to maintain the procedures or carry out the training is guilty of a criminal offence (regulation 3(2)). Casino operators must obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of all people using their gaming facilities (regulation 8). Regulation 9 requires the Commissioners of Customs and Excise to keep a register of money service operators and a register of high value dealers and regulations 10-11 state the registration requirements placed on such persons. Regulation 12 lists the grounds on which registration may be refused by the Commissioners, including where information which has been supplied is incomplete, false or misleading. Regulation 13 lists the circumstances in which registration may be cancelled by the Commissioners. Regulation 14 allows the Commissioners to charge fees. Regulations 15 to 19 state the powers of the Commissioners in relation to money service operators and high value dealers, including a power to enter and inspect premises. Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that an offence under the Regulations is being, has been or is about to be committed by a money service operator or high value dealer, the Commissioners may seek a court order requiring any person in possession of certain information to allow them access to it. Regulation 19 allows the Commissioners to enter premises with a warrant, to search persons and to take away documents. Regulation 20 allows the Commissioners to impose a civil penalty in certain circumstances. Regulation 21 provides a mechanism for a formal review by the Commissioners of their decisions. Regulation 22 provides for appeals against the Commissioners' decisions to be heard by a VAT tribunal. Regulation 23 allows the Commissioners to prosecute offences under the Regulations. Regulation 24 allows fees and penalties to be recovered as a civil debt. Regulation 25 requires people who are authorised by the Financial Services Authority (“the FSA”) to inform the FSA before they operate bureaux de change. Regulation 26 requires supervisory authorities (defined in regulation 2) and various other people who obtain information indicative of money laundering to inform a constable. Regulation 28 allows the Treasury to require people who carry on relevant business to refrain from doing business with people in certain non-EEA States.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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