UK Offence Report

Trade: licensing offences

regulation 30A(1) of The Haiti (Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

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

1 A person (“P”) commits an offence is P knowingly or recklessly—

a provides information that is false in

a material respect, or

b provides or produces

a document that is not what it purports to be, for the purpose of obtaining

a trade licence (whether for P or anyone else).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 30A(1)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Haiti (Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
5 December 2023
In force from
28 December 2023
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) for the purposes of implementing obligations that the United Kingdom has by virtue of the arms embargo contained in UN Security Council Resolution 2653 (2022) adopted by the UN Security Council on 21st October 2022, as amended by UN Security Council resolution 2699 (2023) adopted by the Security Council on 2nd October 2023, and resolution 2700 (2023) adopted by UN Security Council on 19th October 2023. These Regulations amend the purposes of the Haiti (Sanctions) Regulations 2022 (“the 2022 Regulations”) to refer to these resolutions. Resolutions 2699 (2023) and 2700 (2023) introduce an arms embargo on the export of “small arms and light weapons and ammunition” to Haiti. This replaces the targeted arms embargo imposed in Resolution 2653 (2022) in respect of persons designated under that Resolution. The term “small arms, light weapons and ammunition” is defined in the Schedule to these Regulations, which introduces a Schedule 1A into 2022 Regulations, by reference to certain parts of Schedules 2 and 3 to the Export Control Order 2008. A licensing power is inserted by regulation 11, which will enable the export, supply or delivery or making available of goods on a case-by-case basis where that would be consistent with resolutions 2699 (2023) and 2700 (2023). Regulations 12 and 13 create a series of obligations in connection with trade licences and establish criminal offences for breach of them. Specifically, they introduce regulations 30A, 36A and 36B into the 2022 Regulations. Given that resolutions 2699 (2023) and 2700 (2023) do not include restrictions on the export of military technology and prohibitions on the enabling of armed hostilities, regulation 10 of these Regulations omits regulations 18-22 of the 2022 Regulations. A full impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact is foreseen on the private, voluntary or public sectors in the United Kingdom. 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. A full 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