UK Offence Report

Amendment to the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) Order 2013

article 15 of The Export Control (North Korea and Ivory Coast Sanctions and Syria Amendment) Order 2013 (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

15 The Export Control (Syria Sanctions ) Order 2013 is amended as follows—

a in article 4, for “a person shall not (directly or indirectly) export, supply or transfer” substitute “a person commits an offence and may be arrested if that person (directly or indirectly) exports, supplies or transfers”;

b in article 5(1) for “a person shall not (directly or indirectly) provide” substitute “a person commits an offence and may be arrested if that person (directly or indirectly) provides”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (knowingly, with intent to) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses knowingly, with intent to; which element that governs was not determined.

What would breach article 15?

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 it is an offence to (directly or indirectly) export, supply or transfer” substitute “a person commits an offence and may be arrested if that person (directly or indirectly) exports, supplies or transfers”.
  2. Selling the goods under the Export Control (North Korea and Ivory Coast Sanctions and Syria Amendment) Order 2013 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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 2013
In force from
7 January 2014
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 trade restrictions against North Korea specified in Council Regulation (EC) No 329/2007 (OJ L 88, 29.3.2007, p1) as last amended by Council Regulation (EU) No 696/2013 (OJ L 198, 23.7.2013, p22) (the “North Korea Regulation”). It also provides for the enforcement of trade restrictions against the Ivory Coast specified in Council Regulation (EC) No 174/2005 (OJ No L 29, 2.2.2005, p5) as last amended by Council Regulation (EU) No 617/2012 (OJ L 179, 11.7.2012, p1) (the “Ivory Coast Regulation”). The Order sets out offences in relation to these prohibitions and those offences can be committed by any person in the United Kingdom and, around the world, by any United Kingdom person, as defined in section 11 of the Export Control Act 2002(c. 28). The Order consolidates in one single instrument the enforcement of the trade restrictions against North Korea and the Ivory Coast formerly covered by the Export Control (North Korea) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/1334) and its subsequent amendments (S.I. 2010/132 and article 7 of S.I. 2011/1296) and the Export Control (Iraq and Ivory Coast) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/232), which are revoked and replaced by this Order. The measures against North Korea include prohibitions on the sale, supply, export or transfer of goods and technology listed in Annexes I, Ia and Ib of the North Korea Regulation and prohibitions in relation to providing or obtaining technical training, technical assistance, financing or financial assistance in relation to those items. There are also restrictions on the trade of gold or precious metals and diamonds to and from North Korea and restrictions on the trade of luxury goods and newly printed or unissued North Korean denominated banknotes and minted coinage. The trade sanctions against the Ivory Coast have been significantly reduced following the adoption of Council Decision 2012/371/CFSP (OJ L 179, 11.7.2012, p21) and its implementing Regulation (EU) No 617/2012 (OJ L 179, 11.7.2012, p1) both of 10 July 2012. The measures include prohibitions on the supply, transfer or export of equipment which might be used for internal repression as listed in Annex I to the Ivory Coast Regulation. Articles 4 to 7 create offences for contravention of the trade restrictions of the North Korea Regulation referred to there. Article 8 creates offences for contravention of the restrictions in Article 3(a) of the Ivory Coast Regulation. There are already offences relating to prohibited importation and exportation of goods in sections 50, 68 and 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (1979 c.2) (“the 1979 Act”). Article 12 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 13 provides for the ancillary provisions which apply to the enforcement of customs and excise legislation to also apply to the enforcement of this Order. Article 14 amends the Export Control Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/3231) to include Syria in the list of countries in Part 4 of Schedule 4, so that the exemption for transit controls in article 17 of that Order does not apply when the goods in transit are those listed in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Order and they are being exported to Syria. Article 15 amends the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/2012) to expressly provide that a person carrying out any of the activities described in articles 4 and 5 without the authority of a UK licence commits an offence and may be arrested. Article 16 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of the Order and publish a report within five years after the Order 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 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 the gov.uk website (www.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 0.96.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.96 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