UK Offence Report

Information sharing by HMRC

article 2(2) of The Collection of Fines etc. (Northern Ireland Consequential Amendments) Order 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 to whom information is disclosed under this paragraph commits an offence if the person—

a discloses the information to another person, or

b uses the information for

a purpose other than

a purpose referred to in sub-paragraph (1).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

ich has previously been lawfully disclosed to the public. 5 It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under sub-paragraph (3) to prove that the person reasonably believed that the disclosure or use was lawful. 6 A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (3) is liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonmen

What would breach article 2(2)?

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 Collection of Fines etc. (Northern Ireland Consequential Amendments) Order 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
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
12 April 2017
In force from
Not determined
Extent
N.I.

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 amendments of the law of Northern Ireland which are consequential on section 18 of the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the 2016 Act”). That section provides for the making of an attachment of earnings order to secure payment of an outstanding fine or other sum imposed on conviction for an offence. The Order amends Schedule 5 to the Courts Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) so as to enable Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to disclose financial information to a court in Northern Ireland or to a collection officer under the 2016 Act. Schedule 5 to the 2003 Act already enables Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to make similar disclosures in cases in England and Wales. The Northern Ireland Assembly could not itself make equivalent provision in the 2016 Act, as a result of section 18(3) and (4)(e)(ii) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (which provides that provision for such disclosure may not be made by or under an Act of the Assembly).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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