UK Offence Report

3 A person commits an offence if that person discloses information in contravention of regulation 11 or 12,…

regulation 23(3) of The Oversight of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Supervision Regulations 2017

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

3 A person commits an offence if that person discloses information in contravention of regulation

11 or 12, or publishes information in contravention of regulation 21.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 23(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Oversight of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Supervision Regulations 2017, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£10,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
3 months

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
14 December 2017
In force from
18 January 2018
Extent
S

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 give the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) powers to supervise professional body anti-money laundering supervisors (“self-regulatory organisations”), in relation to compliance with anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements. The requirements derive from the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/692) (“the MLR”) and the Fourth Money Laundering Directive 2015/849/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing (OJ L 141, 05.06.2015, p.73) (“4MLD”). Article 48 of 4MLD requires Member States to ensure that competent authorities monitor effectively and take necessary measures to ensure compliance with 4MLD. Part 1 (introduction) sets out the definitions and meanings that apply throughout these Regulations, and the duty on the FCA to have regard to the importance of ensuring that self-regulatory organisations comply with any supervision requirement placed on them by the MLR (regulation 3). Part 2 (applications) sets out the process for applying to be considered for inclusion as a self-regulatory organisation (regulations 4 and 5). Part 3 (information and directions) gives the FCA information gathering powers (regulation 7) and makes provision for the way in which the power in regulation 7 may be exercised (regulations 8 to 10). Regulation 11 prohibits the disclosure of confidential information by the FCA subject to regulation 12. Regulation 12 provides that the FCA may disclose information they hold in certain circumstances. Regulation 13 gives the FCA the power to commission or to require a self-regulatory organisation to commission and provide the FCA with a skilled person’s report. Regulation 14 gives the FCA the power to issue directions to a self-regulatory organisation. Part 4 (enforcement and appeals) gives the FCA powers to impose measures on self-regulatory organisations who have contravened certain requirements (regulations 16 to 21), and regulation 22 provides for appeals against a decision by the FCA to publish a statement of censure. Regulations 23 to 25 make provision about criminal offences, investigations and proceedings. Part 5 (miscellaneous provisions), among other things, ensures that charges imposed by the FCA may be recovered as a debt in civil proceedings (regulation 26) and ensures that the FCA can recover the costs of its supervision (regulation 27). Regulation 28 extends to Scotland only and makes a consequential amendment to the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 in connection with fees. A full regulatory impact statement of the effect that the Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is published with the Explanatory Memorandum to the Regulations on legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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