UK Offence Report

2 It is an offence for an airport operator to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a direction…

regulation 57N(2) of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2022

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

2 It is an offence for an airport operator to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with

a direction given by the Secretary of State under regulation 57J(6).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an airport operator
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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 an airport operator 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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

2 It is an offence for an airport operator to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a direction given by the Secretary of State under regulation 57J(6).

What would breach regulation 57N(2)?

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 fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a direction given by the Secretary of State under regulation 57J(6).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2022.

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
8 March 2022
In force from
8 March 2022
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 amend the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/855) (“the 2019 Regulations”). These Regulations provide for new aviation and trade sanctions measures in relation to Russia. The Regulations prohibit Russian aircraft from overflying or landing in the United Kingdom. The Regulations also confer powers on the Secretary of State, air traffic control and airport operators to issue directions for the purpose of preventing Russian aircraft from entering the airspace over the United Kingdom or from landing in the United Kingdom, or requiring aircraft to leave the airspace over the United Kingdom. The Regulations also confer powers on the CAA to refuse, suspend or revoke permissions in respect of Russian aircraft. The registration of aircraft on the register kept by the CAA is prohibited where they are owned, operated or chartered by demise by a designated person. An exception from the prohibitions on landing and overflight is provided for where failing to land would endanger the lives of persons on board or the safety of the aircraft. The Regulations make it a criminal offence to contravene any of the prohibitions or fail to comply with a direction in these Regulations. The Regulations also amend the trade measures in the 2019 Regulations to add new categories of aviation and space goods and technology, based on items falling within chapter 88 of the Tariff of the United Kingdom. The existing prohibitions applying to restricted goods and restricted technology are extended to these goods and technology, as well as a new prohibition on insurance and reinsurance services. Existing exceptions in relation to aircraft and vessels, for emergencies in certain cases, for authorised conduct and for purposes of national security or prevention of serious crime are applied to the new prohibition. Parts 4, 7 and 9 also amend the 2019 Regulations and the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/3138) to correct certain omissions and errors in the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/203). A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Instead a de minimis assessment has been prepared as this instrument is likely to entail some costs for businesses, but the net impact is estimated to be below £5 million per year. An impact assessment was, however, produced for the primary legislation and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sanctions-and-anti-money-laundering-bill-impact-assessment.

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