UK Offence Report

Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 258/2012

regulation 4(10)(b) of The Trade etc. in Dual-Use Items and Firearms etc. (Amendment) (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

b in paragraph 1(a), for the words beginning with “listed in Article 2(2) to the end of the paragraph substitute “punishable by

a term of imprisonment of not less than four years”;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 4(10)(b)?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Trade etc. in Dual-Use Items and Firearms etc. (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
1 April 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 in exercise of the powers conferred by section 8(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) in order to address failures of EU law to operate effectively and other deficiencies (in particular under paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (g) of subsection (2)) arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Regulation 2 amends primary legislation. In particular regulation 2 amends and omits provisions of the Export Control Act 2002 (c.28) which will have no practical application once the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the EU. Regulation 2(2) omits the power to make provision in connection with any controls that may be imposed by a directly applicable EU provision on the exportation of goods. Regulation 2(3) omits the power to make provision in connection with any controls that may be imposed by a directly applicable EU provision on the transfer of technology. Regulation 2(4) omits the power to make provision in connection with technical assistance controls that may be imposed by a directly applicable EU provision. Regulation 2(5) omits the power to make provision in connection with trade controls that may be imposed by a directly applicable EU provision. Section 5 of the Export Control Act 2002 provides that there are no restrictions on the kinds of controls that may be imposed to give effect to international obligations and Regulation 2(6) makes amendments to remove obligations arising from the United Kingdom’s membership of the EU from the scope of international obligations in this context. Part 3 amends retained EU legislation. Regulation 3 makes amendments in relation to the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of “dual-use” items. Dual-use items are items which can be used for both civil and military purposes. In particular this regulation amends Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 of 5 May 2009, which set up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items. Regulation 4 makes amendments in relation to the illicit trafficking of firearms and in particular amends Regulation (EU) No 258/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council implementing Article 10 of the United Nations Protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition. Part 4 makes transitional provision. Regulation 5 does so in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 of 5 May 2009 and regulation 6 does so in relation to Regulation (EU) No 258/2012. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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