UK Offence Report

Offences related to the movement of Syrian cultural property goods, etc including those listed in Annex XI

article 12A of The Export Control (Syria Sanctions) (Amendment) Order 2014 (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

12A A person who is knowingly concerned in an activity, other than the export or the import of goods, prohibited by Article 11c of the Syria Regulation (prohibition on import, export, transfer or provision of brokering services related to import, export or transfer, of Syrian cultural property goods, etc, including those listed in Annex XI, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the goods have been removed from Syria without the consent of the legitimate owner or in breach of Syrian or international law) with intent to evade the prohibitions in that Article commits an offence and may be arrested.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
acting without the licence or authorisation required
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; qualified by absence of consent (an element).

What would breach article 12A?

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. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) (Amendment) Order 2014.
  2. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
  3. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

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 July 2014
In force from
8 August 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 trade sanctions relating to Syrian cultural property specified in Council Regulation (EU) No 1332/2013 (OJ No L 335, 14.12.2013, p3), which amends Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 (OJ No L 16, 19.1.2012, p1) concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria (the “amended Syria Regulation”). This Order does so by amending the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/2012), which makes provision for the enforcement of all current trade restrictions against Syria (the “principal Order”). Article 2(3) of the Order inserts article 12A into the principal Order. This creates an offence for breaching the prohibitions in the amended Syria Regulation against the transfer, or the provision of brokering services related to the import, export or transfer, of the relevant cultural property. Offences for the import or export of the property already exist under sections 50, 68 and 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (1979 c 2). Article 2(4) of the Order amends article 17 of the principal Order. The amendment to article 17(3) applies the penalties in that article to the new offences. The amendments to articles 17(4) and (5) increase the maximum sentence for the offences of importing and exporting the property under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 to 10 years. Under article 1(2) of the principal Order, the new offences apply to any person in the United Kingdom and to United Kingdom persons, as defined in section 11 of the Export Control Act 2002 (c 28), wherever they are in the world. A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this Order 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 .

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