UK Offence Report

Failure to comply with licence conditions

article 10(3) of The Export of Radioactive Sources (Control) Order 2006

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 No person shall be guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) where in the case of

a licence—

a the condition in question has been modified by the Secretary of State;

b the alleged failure to comply would not have been

a failure had the licence not been so modified; and

c the condition was modified after the doing of the act authorised by the licence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 article 10(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Export of Radioactive Sources (Control) Order 2006, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
7 July 2006
In force from
1 October 2006
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 controls the export of certain high-activity radioactive sources. Article 3 prohibits, except under licence, the export of certain radioactive sources (“controlled radioactive sources”) of a description in Schedule 1. Article 4 excludes from the control, with limited exceptions, controlled radioactive sources in transit. Section 68 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 provides offences for the breach of the control on export. In article 12 the maximum penalty for the intentional breach of the control on export is set at 10 years, the maximum penalty permitted under section 7(1) of the Export Control Act 2002. Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 provide for the granting of licences, record keeping and appeals against the refusal of a licence application. Article 9 and 10 make provision in respect of misleading applications for licences and failure to comply with licence conditions. Article 11 gives to the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs the power to require evidence of the destination to which the controlled radioactive source was delivered. Article 13 sets out the purposes for which information obtained by the Secretary of State, or the Commissioners, can be disclosed. Guidance issued pursuant to section 9 of the Export Control Act 2002 on the operation of the control introduced by this Order, and a full regulatory impact assessment of the effect it will have on the costs of business are available from http://www.dti.gov.uk/europeanandtrade/strategic-export-control/legislation/radioactive-sources/index.html or the Export Control Organisation helpline - Telephone (020) 7215 8070 or E-mail: ECO.help@dti.gsi.gov.uk.

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