UK Offence Report

Amendment to the Export Control (Iran Sanctions) Order 2012

article 2(5) of The Export Control (Iran Sanctions) (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

5 After article

8 insert— Offences related to natural gas products listed in Annex IVA 8A A person who is knowingly concerned in an activity, other than the import of goods, prohibited by any of the following Articles of the Iran Sanctions Regulation with intent to evade

a prohibition in those Articles commits an offence and may be arrested—

a Article 14a(1)(a) (prohibition on purchase, transport, etc. into the Union natural gas which originates in Iran or has been exported from Iran);

b Article 14a(1)(b) (prohibition on swapping natural gas which originates in Iran or has been exported from Iran);

c Article 14a(1)(c) (prohibition on provision of brokering services, financing or financial assistance, etc. related to the activities specified in Articles 14a(1)(a) and (b)). .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

What would breach article 2(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 Export Control (Iran Sanctions) (Amendment) Order 2013 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
16 February 2013
In force from
12 March 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 makes provision for the enforcement of new trade sanctions against Iran specified in Council Regulation (EU) No 1263/2012 (OJ No L 356, 22.12.2012, p34), which amends Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran (the “Amending Iran Regulation”). It does so by amending the Export Control (Iran Sanctions) Order 2012 (SI 2012/1243) which makes provision for the enforcement of most of the current trade restrictions against Iran (the “Iran Order”). The new measures include prohibitions on trade, technical assistance, financing, financial assistance or brokering on key naval equipment and technology, software for integrating industrial processes, graphite and certain specified raw or semi-finished metals and a ban on the trade of natural gas originating in Iran. Article 2 amends the Iran Order to make provision for offences and penalties for contravention of most of the additional trade sanctions specified by the Amending Iran Regulation. There are already enforcement provisions in relation to the new prohibitions on the importation and exportation of goods in sections 50, 68 and 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (1979 c. 2). 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 this instrument 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