UK Offence Report

Information exchanges, reporting and disclosure of information

regulation 7(4) of The Conflict Minerals (Compliance) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 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

4 A person who breaches paragraph (3) is guilty of 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 7(4)?

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 breaches paragraph (3).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Conflict Minerals (Compliance) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
6 months

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
31 December 2020
In force from
1 January 2021
Extent
N.I.

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 enforce in respect of Northern Ireland Regulation (EU) No 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high risk areas (OJ No. L 130, 19.5.2017) (“the EU Regulation”). Article 5(4) of the Northern Ireland Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union (“the Northern Ireland Protocol”) provides that the EU regulations contained in Annex 2 to the Northern Ireland Protocol will apply to and in the UK, in respect of Northern Ireland. The EU Regulation is included in Annex 2. The EU Regulation aims to ensure that importers carry out supply chain due diligence to limit the acquisition of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high risk areas. It imposes obligations on importers: in respect of their supply chain management systems; to identify risks of adverse impacts in their mineral supply chains and develop and implement strategies to respond to those risks; to carry out third-party audits of their activities, processes and systems used to implement supply chain due diligence regarding minerals or metals; and disclose to competent authorities the results of those audits. Part 2 of these Regulations sets out the Secretary of State’s functions which are those of the competent authority in respect of Union importers into Northern Ireland, and of a Member State insofar as they relate to Northern Ireland, under the EU Regulation. It also provides that the Secretary of State may authorise any person to carry out the Secretary of State’s functions as competent authority, and for the disclosure and exchange of information. Part 3 deals with enforcement, and provides for the production of information, entering premises, and inspection of documents or information for the purposes of carrying out the Secretary of State’s functions under these Regulations. Part 4 and the Schedule provide for the Secretary of State to impose civil sanctions where Union importers fail to comply with a notice requiring the production of information or otherwise knowingly, recklessly or without reasonable excuse fail to cooperate with the Secretary of State in the exercise of the powers under Part 3. Part 5 makes provision for the service of notices and requires the Secretary of State to review these Regulations within five years and at intervals of five years thereafter. The Schedule also requires the Secretary of State to publish guidance about the use of civil sanctions under these Regulations. An impact assessment has not been carried out for these Regulations as impact assessments are not required in respect of statutory instruments necessary to meet the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. However, a “de minimis” assessment was conducted to understand the impact of the Regulations on business and no significant costs to business or the voluntary sector are foreseen as a result of the Regulations. A full impact assessment of the EU Regulation was carried out at an EU level. A Justice Impact Assessment has been conducted with the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland. The Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk .

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.

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 is “guilty of 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