UK Offence Report

Offence of disclosure of restricted information

regulation 3(3) of The Customs Disclosure of Information and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2012

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 It is an offence for

a person who receives the restricted information to disclose it except for the purposes for which it was originally received unless the subsequent disclosure is required for the purposes of market surveillance in respect of

a product.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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(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 Customs Disclosure of Information and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2012.

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
12 July 2012
In force from
10 August 2012
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.

Part 2 of these Regulations creates an offence of the unauthorised disclosure of customs information which has been disclosed by a specified person listed in regulation 3(2) to a market surveillance authority under Article 27(2) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 (OJ No L128, 13.8.2008 p30). Article 27(2) requires bodies in charge of external border controls and market surveillance authorities in a member State to share information with each other. Regulation 3 provides that it is an offence if a recipient of the information discloses it otherwise than for the purposes of market surveillance in respect of a product. Regulation 5 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of regulations 2 to 4 and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following each review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether those regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke those regulations or to amend them. Part 3 makes minor amendments to the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002, and the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2006. It also amends the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2010 to remove offences of supplying to countries outside the United Kingdom pyrotechnic articles that are permitted to be supplied in the United Kingdom for a transitional period. No impact assessment has been produced because these Regulations will have no effect on the costs of business and the voluntary sector. The Regulations are published with the Explanatory Memorandum on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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