UK Offence Report

5 A person commits an offence who, for the purpose of obtaining a licence, knowingly or recklessly— a…

regulation 9(5) of The Iran (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2016 (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 A person commits an offence who, for the purpose of obtaining

a licence, knowingly or recklessly—

a provides information that is false in

a material respect, or

b provides or produces

a document that is not what it purports to be.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 (for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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, recklessly, for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 9(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Iran (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2016.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
18 January 2016
In force from
18 January 2016
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.

These Regulations make provision relating to the enforcement of Council Regulation (EU) No. No. 2012/267 dated 23rd March 2102 (OJ, L 088 24.3.2012, p.1) concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation EU No. 961/2010 (“the Council Regulation”) as amended most recently by Council Regulation (EU) No. 1861/2015 of 18th October 2015 (OJ L 274, 18.10.2015, p. 1) and Council Regulation (EU) No. 1862/2015 of 18th October 2015 (OJ L 274, 18.10.2015, p. 161) (“the 2015 Council Regulations”). Following the agreement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna on 14th July 2015 providing for sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for Iran verifiably limiting its nuclear programme, the 2105 Council Regulations were adopted to amend the Council Regulation to reduce the restrictive measures it imposed upon Iran. The 2015 Council Regulations enter into force on the date that it is independently verified that Iran has complied with its obligations under the JCPOA. The International Atomic Energy Authority has verified that Iran has so complied, and accordingly the 2015 Council Regulations have entered into force. These Regulations revoke and replace the Iran (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2012 (“the 2012 Regulation”), with relevant savings, in order to align the criminal penalties for breaches of the restrictive measures with the Council Regulation as amended by the 2015 Regulations. For the sake of clarity, these Regulations revoke and replace the 2012 Regulations rather than substantially amend those Regulations. The measures include the freezing of funds and economic resources of designated persons and ensuring that funds and economic resources are not made available to them or for their benefit. Regulation 2 defines designated persons as any person named in Annex VIII, IX, XIII, or XIV to the Council Regulation (as amended from time to time). These Annexes include those persons listed by the Council of the European Union and the United Nations. Regulations 3 to 7 provide prohibitions against dealing with the funds or economic resources of a designated person, or making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person. Regulation 8 provides an exception to the prohibitions in regulations 4 and 5 where a frozen account is credited for a permitted reason. Regulation 9 provides a licensing procedure to enable funds and economic resources to be exempted from the prohibitions. Regulation 10 prohibits the provision of specialised financial messaging services to designated persons. Regulation 11 makes it an offence to breach any of the prohibitions in regulations 3 to 7 and 10, or to seek to circumvent those provisions. Regulations 12 to 15 contain provision about penalties, proceedings and who, in relation to bodies corporate and other bodies, may be prosecuted for an offence under the Regulations. Regulation 19 makes a consequential amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 c.28. Regulation 20 revokes and repeals the legislation providing for enforcement of the restrictive measures prior to the extensive changes mandated by the JCPOA and given effect by the 2015 Council Regulations. Regulation 21 saves licenses granted under that legislation. The Schedule makes provision for information gathering and information disclosure and creates offences for failure to comply with a request for information. A list of designated persons is available on the internet at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-consolidated-list-of-targets or can be obtained from Financial Sanctions, H.M. Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ. Further information is available from Financial Sanctions, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ and on the H.M. Treasury website (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury).

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