UK Offence Report

1 It is an offence for a person to disclose information or a document obtained in accordance with this Order…

paragraph 6(1) of SCHEDULE 3 of The Sudan (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) 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

1 It is an offence for a person to disclose information or a document obtained in accordance with this Order (including a copy or extract made of such a document) except— a to a person who would have been authorised to request the information or document under this Order; b to a person holding or acting in any office under or in the service of— i the Crown in right of the Government of the United Kingdom, ii the Government of the Isle of Man, iii the States of Guernsey or Alderney or the Chief Pleas of Sark, iv the States of Jersey, or v the Government of any British overseas territory; c for the purpose of giving assistance or cooperation, with the authority of the Governor, to— i any organ of the United Nations, or ii any person in the service of the United Nations, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission or the government of any State or territory; d with a view to instituting, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings— i in the Territory, for an offence under this Order, or ii in the United Kingdom, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or any British overseas territory (other than the Territory), for an offence under a similar provision in any such jurisdiction; e to the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom or to the relevant authority with responsibility in any other State or territory for regulating and supervising financial services business; or f to any third party, with the consent of a person who, in the person’s own right, is entitled to the information or to possession of the document, copy or extract.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
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 paragraph 6(1) of SCHEDULE 3?

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, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Sudan (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2014, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

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 October 2014
In force from
5 November 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 gives effect in specified Overseas Territories to sanctions imposed on Sudan by United Nations Security Council resolutions 1556 (2004) of 30th July 2004, 1591 (2005) of 29th March 2005 and 1945 (2010) of 14th October 2010. This Order also reflects the implementation of these sanctions by the European Union in Council Decision 2014/450/CFSP adopted on 10th July 2014. Council Decision 2014/450/CFSP repeals Council Decision 2011/423/CFSP which previously extended some restrictive measures in place against Sudan to South Sudan, which became a separate State on 9th July 2011. For the sake of clarity, the restrictive measures implemented by the European Union concerning Sudan have now been separated from measures concerning South Sudan. This Order revokes and replaces the Sudan and South Sudan (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2012, Sudan (United Nations Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2005 and Sudan (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2004. The sanctions imposed include an arms embargo and a prohibition on the provision of related assistance to Sudan and an asset freeze and travel ban against persons designated by the United Nations Security Council as those who impede the peace process, constitute a threat to stability in Darfur and the region, commit violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law or other atrocities, or violate the arms embargo. The Order makes provision for the Governor to license certain activities in line with exemptions under the sanctions regime.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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