UK Offence Report

Authorisations and notifications

regulation 11(5) of The Iran (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 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 A person who purports to act under an authorisation granted by the Treasury but who fails to comply with any conditions included in the authorisation commits an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 11(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person purports to act under an authorisation granted by the Treasury but who fails to comply with any conditions included in the authorisation.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Iran (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2012, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
26 March 2012
In force from
26 March 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.

These Regulations make provision relating to the enforcement of Council Regulation (EU) No. 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EU) No. 961/2010 (OJ L 88, 24.3.2012, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”). The measures include the freezing of funds and economic resources of designated persons and ensuring that funds and economic resources are not made available to them or for their benefit. They also include broader financial sanctions measures. Regulation 2 defines designated persons as any person named in Annex VIII or IX to the Council Regulation (as amended from time to time). Annex VIII includes those persons listed by the United Nations Security Council, and Annex IX includes those persons listed by the Council of the European Union. Regulations 3 to 7 provide prohibitions against dealing with the funds or economic resources of a designated person, or making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person. Regulation 8 provides an exception to the prohibitions in regulations 4 and 5 where a frozen account is credited for a permitted reason. Regulation 9 provides a licensing procedure to enable funds and economic resources to be exempted from the prohibitions. Regulation 10 prohibits the transfer of funds to or from certain persons in or connected to Iran, if the transfers have not been notified or authorised in accordance with the Council Regulation. Regulation 11 makes provision in relation to authorisations. Regulation 12 prohibits the provision of specialist financial messaging services to designated persons. Regulation 13 requires a branch or subsidiary of an Iranian bank to comply with the requirements of the Council Regulation to notify the Treasury of details of transfers of funds. Regulation 14 prohibits a credit or financial institution establishing certain relationships with an Iranian bank, or opening a representative office or establishing a branch in Iran. Regulation 15 prohibits the making of an agreement for or on behalf of an Iranian bank to establish a representative office, branch or subsidiary in the European Union. Regulation 16 prohibits an Iranian bank acquiring or extending an ownership interest in a credit or financial institution. Regulation 17 prohibits the sale or purchase of bonds to or from an Iranian person, the provision of brokering services in respect of bonds to an Iranian person, and the provision of any assistance to an Iranian person to issue bonds. Regulation 18 prohibits the provision of insurance or re-insurance to Iranian persons, and of brokering services in respect of such insurance or re-insurance. Regulation 19 makes it an offence to breach any of the prohibitions in regulations 3 to 7, 10, 12 and 14 to 18, or to fail to comply with the requirements of regulation 13, or to seek to circumvent those provisions. Regulations 20 to 23 contain provision about penalties, proceedings and who, in relation to bodies corporate and other bodies, may be prosecuted for an offence under the Regulations. Regulation 27 amends the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 so that an application to the High Court to set aside any decision of the Treasury under these Regulations is subject to the procedure set out in that Act and in Part 79 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Regulation 28 revokes the Regulations which currently make provision for penalties for contravention of the asset freezing measures contained in the Council Regulation. Regulation 29 provides that licences which were granted under those revoked Regulations continue to have effect for the purposes of these Regulations. The Schedule makes provision for information gathering and information disclosure. A list of designated persons is available on the Internet at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_index.htm. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the costs of business or the voluntary sector is foreseen. Further information is available from the Asset Freezing Unit, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ and on HM Treasury’s website (www.hm-treasury.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