UK Offence Report

Exceptions relating to petroleum products

regulation 57(6) of The Syria (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

6 A person who fails to comply with the requirement in paragraph (5) commits an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 57(6)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with the requirement in paragraph (5).
  2. Being served with a notice under the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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
3 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 under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (c.13) to establish a sanctions regime in relation to Syria for the purpose of encouraging the Syrian regime to refrain from actions, policies or activities which repress the civilian population in Syria and to participate in negotiations in good faith to reach a negotiated political settlement to bring about a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria. Following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, these Regulations replace the EU sanctions regime concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria, implemented via an EU Council Decision and Regulation. The Regulations confer a power on the Secretary of State to designate persons who are, or have been, involved in repressing the civilian population in Syria or those persons who support or have benefitted from the Syrian regime. This will include persons who are, or have been, Ministers or high-ranking officials in the Syrian armed forces, prominent businesspersons in Syria and other persons involved in chemical weapons-related activities. Designated persons may be excluded from the United Kingdom and may be made subject to financial sanctions, including having their funds and/or economic resources frozen. These Regulations also impose trade restrictions on specified goods and technology (as specified in Schedule 2 to these Regulations), including goods and technology relating to chemical and biological weapons (as specified in Schedule 3 to these Regulations), which may be used for interception and monitoring services in Syria (as specified in Schedule 4 to these Regulations) and those which may be used to repress the civilian population of Syria (as specified in Schedule 5 to these Regulations). A further trade sanction that is imposed by these Regulations is to prohibit the provision of interception and monitoring services to, or for the benefit of, the Government of Syria. The Regulations also prohibit aircraft from accessing UK airports, by preventing them from landing in the UK. 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 acts done for the purpose of national security or the prevention of serious crime. The Regulations also confer powers on the Secretary of State and the Treasury to issue licences in respect of activities that would otherwise be prohibited under the financial, trade and aircraft provisions. Schedule 6 to these Regulations sets out the purposes pursuant to which the Treasury will issue such licences. The 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 the sanctions regime. Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria is revoked by these Regulations. The Syria (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/129) and certain provisions of the Export Control (Syria Sanctions) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/2012) are also revoked by these Regulations. A copy of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System under the International Convention on the Harmonized System as done in Brussels on 14 June 1983 may be inspected free of charge by arrangement with HM Revenue and Customs at 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ and is available at: http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/nomenclature/instrument-and-tools/hs-nomenclature-2017-edition/hs-nomenclature-2017-edition.aspx. An Impact Assessment has not been produced for these Regulations, as the instrument is intended to ensure existing sanctions remain in place following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. 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

Both Houses had to approve this instrument before it could take effect, and did so.

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