UK Offence Report

Amendments to the principal Order

article 5 of The Syria (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2012 (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

5 After article

8 insert— Purchase etc. of restricted goods from Syria 8A A person to whom this Order applies (“P”) commits an offence if P knowingly—

a purchases, imports or transports restricted goods from Syria or originating in Syria, or

b provides (directly or indirectly) financing and financial assistance or brokering services related to insurance and reinsurance for any purchase, import or transport of restricted goods from Syria or originating in Syria. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly.

What would breach article 5?

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 the goods across the border under the Syria (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2012 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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 December 2012
In force from
9 January 2013
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 amends the Syria (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2012 (“the principal Order”). The principal Order gives effect in specified Overseas Territories to sanctions in respect of Syria adopted by the European Union in Council Decision 2011/782/CFSP adopted on 1st December 2011 (“the Council Decision”) and EU Council Regulation No 36/2012 adopted on 18th January 2012 (“the Council Regulation”), as amended. This Order amends the principal Order to give effect to changes to the sanctions measures adopted by the European Union in Council Decision 2012/420/CFSP adopted on 23rd July 2012 and in Council Decision 2012/634/CFSP adopted on 15th October 2012. The changes to which this Order gives effect are a seizure and disposal measure in relation to items which might be used for internal repression or for the manufacture and maintenance of products which could be used for internal repression as listed in Annexes I and Ia to the Council Regulation, new exemptions to the asset freeze and a prohibition on the purchase, import and transport of arms from, or originating in, Syria. The opportunity has also been taken to update, and make minor corrections to, the drafting of the principal Order.

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 “commits 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