UK Offence Report

3 It is an offence for a person to whom a direction is given under regulation 29A(2) (direction by air…

regulation 29D(3) of The Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

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 It is an offence for

a person to whom

a direction is given under regulation 29A(2) (direction by air traffic control to operator or pilot of Belarusian aircraft) to fail to comply with the direction.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 29D(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 it is an offence to whom a direction is given under regulation 29A(2) (direction by air traffic control to operator or pilot of Belarusian aircraft) to fail to comply with the direction.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 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 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
11 October 2021
In force from
14 October 2021
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 add new measures to the sanctions regime in relation to Belarus. The Regulations amend the Belarus (EU Exit) (Sanctions) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/600) (“the 2019 Regulations”). The Regulations revoke and replace the Belarus (EU Exit) (Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/922). These Regulations make substantially the same amendments made by S.I. 2021/922 except that they correct a small number of defects. Part 2 of the Regulations amends the provisions in the 2019 Regulations which confer powers on the Secretary of State to designate persons. Regulation 5 amends the 2019 Regulations to confer a power on the Secretary of State to designate persons for the purpose of new prohibitions on technical assistance relating to aircraft. Regulation 6 expands the criteria for designation to include providing support for or obtaining an economic benefit from the Government of Belarus as a way in which persons can be involved in specified activities. Part 3 of the Regulations adds new financial sanctions to Part 3 of the 2019 Regulations. New restrictions are imposed on dealing with certain financial instruments, providing loans and credit and providing insurance and reinsurance services. These Regulations correct an error in the application of regulation 30A of the 2019 Regulations to these new restrictions. Part 4 of the Regulations amends Part 5 of the 2019 Regulations, on trade. New restrictions are imposed in relation to trade in interception and monitoring goods and technology (as specified in new Schedule 2A) and interception and monitoring services, dual-use goods and technology, goods for the tobacco industry, petroleum products and potash (as defined in new Schedule 2B). Restrictions are also imposed in relation to the provision of technical assistance relating to aircraft. These Regulations correct a defect which was introduced into regulation 23 of the 2019 Regulations by S.I. 2021/922. Under regulation 21, a new Part 5A is added to the 2019 Regulations, conferring powers on the Secretary of State, air traffic control and airport operators to make directions for the purpose of preventing certain aircraft from entering the airspace over the United Kingdom or landing in the United Kingdom, or requiring aircraft to leave the airspace over the United Kingdom. Part 6 of these Regulations provides for licensing and exceptions from the new restrictions, by amendments to Part 6 of the 2019 Regulations. Part 7 of these Regulations makes a number of consequential amendments to the provisions of the 2019 Regulations on information and enforcement (including maritime enforcement) of the sanctions measures. These Regulations also correct typographical errors that were made in S.I. 2021/922. A full impact assessment was published alongside the Belarus (EU Exit) (Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-sanctions-on-the-republic-of-belarus, or from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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