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 Chemical Weapons (Asset-Freezing) and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2018

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Chemical Weapons (Asset-Freezing) and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2018.
  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
16 October 2018
In force from
7 November 2018
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) 2018/1542 of 15th October 2018 concerning restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons (OJ L 259, 16.10.2018, p.12) (“the Council Regulation”). The measures include the freezing of funds and economic resources of any persons and entities listed in Annex I to the Council Regulation and ensuring that funds and economic resources are not made available to them or for their benefit. Regulation 2 defines designated person as any person named in Annex I to the Council Regulation (as amended from time to time). Regulations 3 to 7 provide prohibitions against dealing with the funds or economic resources of a designated person, making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to a designated person and making funds or economic resources available for the benefit of a designated person. Regulation 8 provides an exception to the prohibitions in regulations 4 and 5 in the circumstances set out in the Council Regulation, 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 where this is permitted in the circumstances set out in the Council Regulation. Regulation 10 creates offences where the prohibitions in regulations 3 to 7 are contravened. Regulations 11 to 14 contain provisions about officers of a body corporate, penalties and proceedings. The Schedule makes provision for information gathering and information disclosure and creates offences for failure to comply with a request for information. Regulations 18 and 19 correct a minor error made in the European Union Financial Sanctions (Amendment of Information Provisions) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/754) which amended the Schedule to the Ukraine (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/507). An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument because no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen. Further information is available at H.M. Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ and on H.M. Treasury website (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury), or by contacting Sanctions.Legislation@HMTreasury.gsi.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.

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