UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Lebanon (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020

article 3(2)(b) of The Sanctions (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2020

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 for paragraph

7 substitute—

7 In regulation 7 (export of military goods), at the end insert—

3 A person who contravenes

a prohibition in paragraph (1) commits an offence, but it is

a defence for

a person charged with the offence of contravening paragraph (1) to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the export was to, or the goods were for use in, Lebanon (as the case may 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

enes a prohibition in paragraph (1) commits an offence, but it is a defence for a person charged with the offence of contravening paragraph (1) to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the export was to, or the goods were for use in, Lebanon (as the case may be). ;

What would breach article 3(2)(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes a prohibition in paragraph (1).
  2. Moving the goods across the border under the Sanctions (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2020 without the licence the instrument requires.
  3. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  4. 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 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
16 December 2020
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes amendments to the Global Human Rights Sanctions (Overseas Territories) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/773) (“the Global Human Rights Sanctions Order”) and the Lebanon (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/1124) (“the Lebanon Sanctions Order”). The Global Human Rights Sanctions Order extends with modifications the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/680) (“the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations”) as amended from time to time to all British overseas territories except Bermuda and Gibraltar (which implement sanctions under their own legislative arrangements). The Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations were made under Part 1 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (c.13) (“the Sanctions Act”) to establish a sanctions regime for the purpose of deterring, and providing accountability for, activities which, if carried out by or on behalf of a State, would amount to serious violations of certain human rights by that State. Article 2 of this Order amends the Global Human Rights Sanctions Order in order to revise the modifications to be made to the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulation in their extension to the British overseas territories. Article 2(2)(a) revises the modifications to regulation 9 (confidential information in certain cases) so that the Supreme Court of a territory may grant an injunction to prevent the disclosure of information relating to a designation which the Secretary of State has specified is to be treated as confidential. Article 2(2)(b) revises the modifications to regulation 17 (immigration) so that a person designated for immigration purposes is prohibited from transiting the territory, as well as from entering or remaining in that territory. The revision also provides that the immigration prohibition in relation to a territory does not apply to a person who belongs to that territory, or, in respect of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a person who is permitted to reside in those Areas. Article 2(2)(c) revises the modifications to regulation 24 (immigration directions) to clarify that the Governor may issue an immigration direction in respect of a person whose name is specified in that direction, or who is of a description specified in that direction. The Lebanon Sanctions Order extends with modifications the Lebanon (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/612) (“the Lebanon Sanctions Regulations”) as amended from time to time to all British overseas territories except Bermuda and Gibraltar. The Lebanon Sanctions Regulations were made under Part 1 of the Sanctions Act to establish a sanctions regime in relation to Lebanon for the purposes of compliance with the United Kingdom’s international obligations under United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 (2006). Article 3 of this Order amends the Lebanon Sanctions Order in order to revise the modifications to be made to the Lebanon Sanctions Regulations in their extension to the British overseas territories. Article 3(2)(a) revises the modifications to regulation 2 (interpretation) to substitute a revised definition of authorised officer. Article 3(2)(b) revises the modifications to regulation 7 (export of military goods) to provide that it is a defence for a person charged with the offence of contravening a prohibition on the export of military goods to, or for use in, Lebanon to show that they did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the export was to, or the goods were for use in, Lebanon (as the case may be). Article 3(2)(c) revises the modifications to regulation 21 (general trade licences: inspection of records) to provide that an authorised officer (as defined in regulation 2 (interpretation)) may exercise the functions conferred by that regulation in relation to general trade licences records. Article 3(2)(d) revises the modifications to regulation 33 (maritime enforcement officers) to provide that, for the purposes of the Lebanon Sanction Regulations as modified and extended to the territories, the maritime enforcement powers contained in those Regulations may be exercised by a commissioned officer of any of Her Majesty’s ships or a police or customs officer of the territory. The Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 (“the Amendment Regulations”) prospectively amend the Lebanon Sanctions Regulations, and, as a consequence, the Lebanon Sanctions Order, which is amended by this Order, does not come into force until the Amendment Regulations have come into force in the United Kingdom. Therefore, article 1(2) provides that this Order also comes into force immediately after the Amendment Regulations have come into force in the United Kingdom. An Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this Order because the territorial extent of both the Order, and the Global Human Rights Sanctions Order and Lebanon Sanctions Order which it amends, is the British overseas territories listed in the Schedule: no, or no significant, impact is foreseen on the private, voluntary or public sector in the United Kingdom.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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