UK Offence Report

Circumvention of prohibitions

article 13(1) of The Export Control (Syria Sanctions) and (Miscellaneous Amendments) 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

1 A person commits an offence and may be arrested who participates, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is (whether directly or indirectly)—

a to circumvent any of the prohibitions in Articles 2(1)(a), 4(1), 8(1), 11, 11a(1)(a) or 12(1)(a) of the Syria Regulation, or

b to enable or facilitate the contravention of any such prohibition.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 (intentionally, knowingly, with intent to).

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, intentionally.

What would breach article 13(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) and (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2012, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
8 March 2012
In force from
5 April 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision for the enforcement of certain restrictive measures specified in Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 (OJ L 16, 19.1.2012, p1), as last amended by Council Regulation (EU) No 168/2012, concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria and repealing Council Regulation (EU) 442/2011 (“the Syria Regulation”). The Syria Regulation implements the sanctions imposed by Council Decision 2011/782/CFSP (OJ L 319, 2.12.2011, p56), as last amended by Council Decision 2012/122/CFSP, concerning restrictive measures against Syria and repealing Decision 2011/273/CFSP. The measures include prohibitions on trade, technical assistance, financing, financial assistance or brokering of equipment which may be used for internal repression, goods and technology in the Common Military list of the European Union, telecommunications monitoring equipment for use by the Syrian regime, equipment and technology for the Syrian oil and gas industry, new Syrian denominated bank notes and coinage and restrictions on the trade in gold, precious metals and diamonds with the Central Bank of Syria. They also include prohibitions on the import, purchase, transport and financial assistance of Syrian crude oil or petroleum products and prohibitions on the participation in certain infrastructure projects and investment in such projects. Article 2 revokes those provisions of the Export Control (Syria and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2011 (SI 2011/1304), which made provision for offences and penalties for contravention of the previous restrictive measures against Syria. In addition, it revokes the Export Control (Uzbekistan) (Amendment) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/1174) which has become spent. Articles 4 to 11 create offences for contravention of the provisions of the Syria Regulation referred to there. There are already offences relating to importation and exportation of prohibited goods in sections 50, 68 and 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (“the 1979 Act”) (1979 c. 2). Article 12 supplements the provisions of the Syria Regulation that allow a competent authority to authorise or approve activities that are otherwise prohibited (i.e. Articles 2(3), 3(2), 4(1) and 5 of the Syria Regulation). Article 12(1) makes it an offence knowingly and recklessly to provide false information for the purpose of obtaining an authorisation or approval. Authorisations or approvals may be subject to requirements or conditions which continue even after the act authorised has been carried out. Article 12(3) makes it an offence to fail to comply with such continuing requirements or conditions unless they were imposed after the act was carried out or amended after that time in such a way as to give rise to non-compliance. Article 13 provides that circumvention of the prohibitions in Articles 2 to 6, 8, 9 or 11 to 13 of the Syria Regulation is an offence. Article 14 sets out the penalties relating to the offences in the Order, and makes some consequential modifications to the 1979 Act to ensure that the offences covered by that Act are subject to the same penalties as those in the Order. Article 15 makes provision so that the ancillary provisions which apply to the enforcement of customs and excise legislation also apply to the enforcement of this Order. Article 16 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of this Order and publish a report within five years after it comes into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Order should remain as it is, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Order or to amend it. A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no or minimal impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies. A copy of the Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside the Order on www.legislation.gov.uk. Further information is available from the Export Control Organisation, BIS, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET and on BIS website (www.bis.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 “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