UK Offence Report

Movement of ships

regulation 29H(5) of The Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) 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

5 It is an offence for

a person to disclose information if the Secretary of State has notified that person under paragraph (4) that the information is to be treated as confidential.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 29H(5)?

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 disclose information if the Secretary of State has notified that person under paragraph (4) that the information is to be treated as confidential.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) 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
30 June 2022
In force from
5 July 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) (“the Sanctions Act”) to amend the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/600) (“the 2019 Regulations”). Part 2 adds new purposes and designation criteria to the 2019 Regulations, targeting role of the Government of Belarus in supporting Russia’s actions in respect of Ukraine. Part 2 also introduces a power to designate persons by description and makes related changes to designation provisions, including reflecting amendments made to the Sanctions Act by the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (c. 10). Part 3 widens the financial sanctions relating to Belarus. Existing restrictions on dealing with financial instruments and providing loans are extended to a broader range of transferable securities, money market instruments, loans and credit. Part 3 also introduces a new prohibition on providing financial services for the purpose of foreign exchange reserve and asset management of the Central Bank of Belarus and the Ministry of Finance of Belarus and related persons. Part 4 widens trade sanctions relating to Belarus. New export restrictions are imposed on goods and technology relating to critical industry, quantum computing and oil refining, and luxury goods, while prohibitions are widened in relation to dual-use goods and technology. New import restrictions are imposed on mineral products, arms and related materiel, iron and steel. A range of related trade activities are prohibited, including technical assistance and financial services relating to certain other prohibited trade activities, and enabling or facilitating military activities. An existing prohibition on providing technical assistance to designated persons in relation to aircraft is widened to include technical assistance provided in relation to ships. Part 5 adds new aircraft and shipping sanctions. The current aircraft restrictions are widened so that it will now be an offence for certain Belarus-related aircraft to land in, or overfly, the UK, and for such aircraft to be registered in the UK. Part 5 also adds shipping restrictions, prohibiting certain Belarus-related or other specified ships from entering UK ports or being registered in the UK, and providing powers to the Secretary of State to direct the movement and detention of such ships. Part 6 deals with exceptions and licencing powers. New exceptions in respect of the new trade provisions are included for travellers, diplomatic posts, international organisations, consumer communication devices and software, and for emergencies. Parts 7 to 9 make related changes to information and enforcement powers, to Schedules, and to other legislation. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector has been published alongside these Regulations and is available from legislation.gov.uk 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