UK Offence Report

Circumvention of prohibitions

regulation 4 of The Export Control (Yemen Sanctions) Regulations 2015 (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

4 A person commits an offence and may be arrested where that person participates, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is (whether directly or indirectly)—

a to circumvent any of the prohibitions in Article 1a(a) or Article 1a(b) of the Yemen Regulation, or

b to enable or facilitate the contravention of any such prohibition.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 (intentionally, knowingly).

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, intentionally.

What would breach regulation 4?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Export Control (Yemen Sanctions) Regulations 2015, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
2 August 2015
In force from
27 August 2015
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.

The Regulations make provision for the enforcement of certain trade restrictions in view of the situation in Yemen as specified in Council Regulation (EU) No 1352/2014 (OJ L No 365, 19.12.2014, p.60) (the “Yemen Regulation”), as amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2015/878 (OJ L No 143, 9.6.2015, p.1). The Regulations set out offences in relation to these restrictions 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 restrictive measures include a prohibition on the provision of technical assistance related to military activities and to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of arms and related materiel of all types, directly or indirectly to any natural or legal person, entity or body as listed in Annex I to the Yemen Regulation. There is also a prohibition on the provision of financial assistance related to military activities, including in particular grants, loans and export credit insurance, as well as insurance and reinsurance, for any sale, supply, etc. of arms and related materiel, or for the provision of related technical assistance, directly or indirectly to any natural or legal person, entity or body as listed in Annex I to the Yemen Regulation. Regulation 3 creates offences for the contravention of the trade restrictions in the Yemen Regulation and regulation 4 creates an offence for circumvention of these restrictions. Regulation 5 sets out the penalties relating to the offences in the Regulations and regulation 6 provides for the ancillary provisions which apply to the enforcement of customs and excise legislation to also apply to the enforcement of these Regulations. Regulation 7 removes Yemen from the list of countries subject to transit control for category B goods in Part 4 of Schedule 4 to the Export Control Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/3231) to the list of countries embargoed and subject to transit control for military goods in Part 3 of that Schedule. Regulation 8 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. 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 Regulations 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 0.92.

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