UK Offence Report

Failure to comply with request for information

paragraph 4(1) of SCHEDULE of The Nicaragua (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2019 (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

1 A person commits an offence who—

a without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails within the time and in the manner specified (or, if no time has been specified, within

a reasonable time) to comply with any request made under this Schedule,

b knowingly or recklessly gives any information, or produces any document, which is false in

a material particular in response to such

a request,

c with intent to evade the provisions of this Schedule, destroys, mutilates, defaces, conceals or removes any document, or

d otherwise intentionally obstructs the Treasury in the exercise of their powers under this Schedule.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly, with intent to).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, with intent to, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A person commits an offence who— a without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails within the time and in the manner specified (or, if no time has been specified, within a reasonable time) to comply with any request made under this Schedule, b knowingly or recklessly gives any information, or produces any document, which i

What would breach paragraph 4(1) of SCHEDULE?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Nicaragua (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2019.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

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
15 October 2019
In force from
6 November 2019
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) 2019/1716 of 14th October 2019 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Nicaragua (OJ L 262, 15.10.2019, p.1) (“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, entity or body listed in Annex I to the Council Regulation (as amended from time to time). Regulations 3 to 7 provide prohibitions against (i) dealing with the funds or economic resources of a designated person, (ii) making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to a designated person and (iii) 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 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 and creates offences for providing false information or documents or not complying with conditions included in a licence. 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. A full impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Further information is available at H.M. Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ and on H.M. Treasury’s website (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury), or by contacting SanctionsLegislation@HMTreasury.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 →

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