UK Offence Report

1 A person who fails to comply with any requirement in regulation 7(1), (2) or (3), 8(1) or (3), 9(2),…

regulation 45(1) of The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (revoked)

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

1 A person who fails to comply with any requirement in regulation 7(1), (2) or (3), 8(1) or (3), 9(2), 10(1), 11(1)(a), (b) or (c), 14(1), 15(1) or (2), 16(1), (2), (3) or (4), 19(1), (4), (5) or (6), 20(1), (4) or (5), 21, 26, 27(4) or 33, or

a direction made under regulation 18, is guilty of an offence and liable—

a on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years, to

a fine or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 45(1)?

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. Being served with a notice under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 3809 — 03809 - Failure to comply with Money Laundering Regulations 2007. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
24 July 2007
In force from
15 December 2007
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 replace the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/3075) with updated provisions which implement in part Directive 2005/60/EC (OJ No L 309, 25.11.2005, p.15) of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing. A Transposition Note setting out how the main elements of this directive will be transposed into UK law is available from the Financial Services Team, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ. An impact assessment has also been prepared. Copies of both documents have been placed in the library of each House of Parliament and are available on HM Treasury’s website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk). The Regulations provide for various steps to be taken by the financial services sector and other persons to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Obligations are imposed on “relevant persons” (defined in regulation 3 and subject to the exclusions in regulation 4), who are credit and financial institutions, auditors, accountants, tax advisers and insolvency practitioners, independent legal professionals, trust or company service providers, estate agents, high value dealers and casinos. Relevant persons are required, when undertaking certain activities in the course of business, to apply customer due diligence measures where they establish a business relationship, carry out an occasional transaction, suspect money laundering or terrorist finance or doubt the accuracy of customer identification information (regulation 7). Customer due diligence measures (defined in regulation 5) consist of identifying and verifying the identity of the customer and any beneficial owner (defined in regulation 6) of the customer, and obtaining information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship. Relevant persons also have to undertake ongoing monitoring of their business relationships (regulation 8). Regulation 9 sets out the general rule on the timing of the verification of the customer’s identity and certain exceptions. Regulation 10 sets out when casinos must identify and verify their customers. Failure to apply such measures means that a person cannot establish or continue a business relationship with the customer concerned or undertake an occasional transaction (regulation 11). Regulation 12 provides an exception from the requirement to identify the beneficial owner for debt issues held in trust. Relevant persons may apply simplified customer due diligence measures for the products, customers or transactions listed in regulation 13 and must apply enhanced measures in the four situations set out in regulation 14. Regulation 15 sets out the obligations on relevant persons in respect of their overseas branches and subsidiaries. Regulation 16 imposes obligations in respect of shell banks and anonymous accounts. Regulation 17 lists the persons on whom relevant persons can rely to perform customer due diligence measures. Regulation 18 provides for the Treasury to make directions where the Financial Action Task Force applies counter-measures to a non-EEA state. Part 3 imposes obligations in respect of record-keeping (regulation 19), policies and procedures (regulation 20) and staff training (regulation 21). Part 4 deals with supervision and registration. Regulation 23 allocates supervisory authorities for different relevant persons. Regulation 24 sets out the duties of supervisors. Money service businesses, high value dealers and trust or company service providers which are not otherwise registered are subject to a system of mandatory registration set out in regulations 25 to 30. Money service businesses and trust or company service providers must not be registered unless the business, its owners, its nominated officer and senior managers are fit and proper persons: regulation 28. Other sectors will only be required to register if the supervisor decides to maintain a register (regulations 33 and 34). Regulation 35 enables supervisors to impose charges on persons they supervise. Part 5 provides enforcement powers for certain supervisors, including powers to obtain information and enter and inspect premises (regulations 37 to 41). Civil penalties may be imposed by these supervisors under regulation 42 on persons who fail to comply with the requirements of Parts 2, 3 and 4. Provision is made for reviews of and appeals against such penalties (regulations 43 and 44). Relevant persons who fail to comply with the requirements of Parts 2, 3 and 4 will also be guilty of a criminal offence: regulations 45 to 47. Persons convicted of a criminal offence may not also be liable to a civil penalty. Part 6 contains provision for the recovery of penalties and charges through the court (regulation 48), imposes an obligation on certain public authorities to report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing (regulation 49) and makes transitional provision (regulation 50). Regulation 51 makes minor and consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation.

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