UK Offence Report

Trade: overlapping offences

regulation 55 of The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida (United Nations Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

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

55 A person is not to be taken to commit an offence under the Export Control Order 2008 if the person would, in the absence of this regulation, commit an offence under both—

a article

34 of that Order, and

b any provision of Part 4 (trade).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
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 55?

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. Moving the goods across the border under the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida (United Nations Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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
5 March 2019
In force from
Not determined
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 are made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (c.13) to establish a sanctions regime to give effect to the United Kingdom’s international obligations resulting from UN Security Council Resolution 2368 (2017) (“the Resolution”) adopted by the Security Council on 20 July 2017 (and previous resolutions). The Resolution imposes a sanctions regime in respect of ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities (“the UN sanctions regime”). The UN sanctions regime was in force in the United Kingdom through an EU Council Decision and Regulation (and implementing domestic law). These Regulations implement the UN sanctions regime by replacing the effect of the EU Council Decision and Regulation which implement the UN regime in the EU. The Regulations provide that those people designated by the UN as being associated with ISIL (Da’esh) & Al-Qaida, either by Resolution or the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, are designated for the purposes of these Regulations. Designated persons are subject to financial sanctions, which include having their funds and/or economic resources frozen. Designated persons are also subject to trade restrictions on military goods and military technology and associated services. Designated persons are also subject to a travel ban under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971 as persons designated by the UN for the purposes of a travel ban. The Regulations also provide for an asset freeze in relation to Usama bin Laden, which may be unfrozen on application to the Treasury, as required by the Resolution. The Regulations provide for certain exceptions to this sanctions regime, in particular in relation to financial sanctions (for example to allow for frozen accounts to be credited with interest or other earnings) and also for acts done for the purpose of national security or the prevention of serious crime. The Regulations also confer powers on the Treasury to issue licenses in respect of the financial and trade sanctions imposed. Schedule 2 of these Regulations sets out the purposes pursuant to which the Treasury will issue such licences. These Regulations make it a criminal offence to contravene, or circumvent, any of the prohibitions in these Regulations and prescribe the mode of trial and penalties that apply to such offences. The Regulations also confer powers on specified maritime enforcement officers to stop and search ships in international and foreign waters for the purpose of enforcing specified trade sanctions and to seize goods found on board ships which are being, or have been, dealt with in contravention, or deemed contravention, of those prohibitions. The Regulations prescribe powers for the provision and sharing of information to enable the effective implementation and enforcement of this sanctions regime. Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 concerning restrictive measures against persons associated with ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida is revoked by these Regulations. The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011 and the Export Control (Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions) Regulations 2011 are amended with the effect that they no longer apply to any person designated under these Regulations. An impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations, as they are intended to ensure existing sanctions remain in place following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. These Regulations are intended to deliver substantially the same policy effects as the existing European Union sanctions. An Impact Assessment was however produced for the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 and can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/653271/Sanctions_and_Anti-Money_Laundering_Bill_Impact_Assessment_18102017.pdf.

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 0.96.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.96 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