UK Offence Report

Transporting etc. Libyan oil in relation to UN designated ships

regulation 35(3) of The Libya (Sanctions) (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

3 A person who contravenes

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

a defence for

a person charged with that offence to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the ship was

a designated ship.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Evidential 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 defendant has only to raise the defence with some evidence. Once it is raised, it is for the prosecution to disprove it to the criminal standard.

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 that offence to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the ship was a designated ship.

What would breach regulation 35(3)?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Libya (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
29 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 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 Libya. The Regulations are made for the purposes of complying with obligations the United Kingdom has by virtue of United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Libya, and for the purposes of promoting respect for human rights in Libya, promoting the peace, stability and security of Libya, promoting the successful completion of Libya’s political transition, and preventing migrant smuggling and human trafficking in relation to Libya. Following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union these Regulations will replace the EU sanctions regime in relation to Libya. That EU regime is currently implemented via an EU Council Decision and Regulation. These Regulations provide that persons who are listed by the UN are designated persons in the UK. The Regulations also confer a power on the Secretary of State to designate further persons who are, or have been, involved in certain specified activities in Libya. Designated persons may be excluded from the United Kingdom and/or may be made subject to financial sanctions, including having their funds or economic resources frozen. There are also specific financial sanctions giving effect to a partial asset-freeze imposed by the United Nations in respect of two entities named in Annex II of resolution 1973 adopted by the UN Security Council on 17 March 2011. These Regulations also impose trade restrictions in relation to military goods, items which could be used to repress the civilian population of Libya (as specified in Schedule 2 to the Regulations) and on certain goods which could be used for human trafficking or the smuggling of migrants (as specified in Schedule 3 to the Regulations). The Regulations also impose restrictions in relation to certain aircraft and ships, and certain activities which enable or facilitate the conduct of armed hostilities in Libya. The Regulations provide for 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 certain sanctions. Schedule 4 to these Regulations sets out the purposes pursuant to which the Treasury may issue licences in certain cases in respect of the financial sanctions measures. 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. These Regulations revoke Council Regulation (EU) 2016/44 (concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Libya and repealing Regulation (EU) No 204/2011). These Regulations also revoke the Libya (European Union Financial Sanctions) Regulations 2016, the Libya (Financial Sanctions) Order 2011 and the Export Control (Libya Sanctions) Order 2016. 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 0.92.

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