A person who commits an offence under any provision of Part 3 (Finance), regulation 46(4) (prohibition on…

paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2 of The Iran (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2023

Status not determined
Strict liability
Either way
International sanctions, export control and trade restrictions

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

8 A person who commits an offence under any provision of Part 3 (Finance), regulation 46(4) (prohibition on port entry), 47(4) (directions prohibiting port entry), 48(3) (movement of ships), 64 (finance: licensing offences) or regulation 38 (finance: licensing offences) is liable on conviction to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding
7 years, or
a fine, or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Iran (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2023.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Maximum prison (summary): 6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment): 2 years

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Fraud, bribery and money laundering offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2014
Covers fraud, false accounting, bribery and money laundering, including offences committed by organisations.
Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 13 December 2023
In force from: 14 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 Order extends with modifications the Iran (Sanctions) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1314) (“the Iran Regulations”) as amended from time to time to all British overseas territories except Bermuda and Gibraltar (which implement sanctions under their own legislative arrangements). Section 63(3)(c) of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (c. 13) (“the Sanctions Act”) provides that His Majesty may by Order in Council provide for any provision of Part 1 of that Act, or any regulations under Part 1 of that Act, to extend with or without modifications to any of the British overseas territories. Section 63(4) provides that this includes the power to extend any regulations as amended from time to time. The Iran Regulations were made under Part 1 of the Sanctions Act to establish a sanctions regime in relation to Iran for the purpose of encouraging the Government of Iran to comply with international human rights law and respect human rights and to deter Iran from conducting hostile activity against the United Kingdom and other countries. The Iran Regulations revoke and replace the Iran (Sanctions) (Human Rights) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The Iran Regulations, as modified and extended to the British overseas territories listed in Schedule 1 by this Order (“the modified Regulations”), provide that a person designated by the Secretary of State for being, or having been, involved in certain activities, is a designated person for the purposes of the modified Regulations. Designated persons may be excluded from an overseas territory and may be made subject to financial sanctions, including having their funds or economic resources frozen. The modified Regulations also impose trade restrictions on specified goods and technology which may be used to repress the civilian population of Iran (as specified in Schedule 2); on specified goods and technology (as specified in Schedule 3) which may be used for interception and monitoring services in Iran; and on specified goods and technology which may be used by Iran to build and improve their unmanned aerial vehicle systems (as specified in Schedule 4 to the Iran Regulations). A further trade sanction that is imposed by the modified Regulations is to prohibit the provision of interception and monitoring services to, or for the benefit of, the Government of Iran. The modified Regulations provide for certain exceptions to this sanctions regime (for example to allow for frozen accounts to be credited with interest or other earnings and to allow acts done for the purpose of national security or the prevention of serious crime). The Governor of a British overseas territory to which the modified Regulations extend may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, issue a licence in respect of activities that would otherwise be prohibited under the modified Regulations. Schedule 5 sets out the purposes under which the Governor may issue a financial sanctions licence. The modified Regulations also require the Governor of the territory to publish an up-to-date list of designated persons. The modified Regulations prescribe powers for the provision and sharing of information to enable the effective implementation and enforcement of the sanctions regime. The modified Regulations also prescribe enforcement powers in relation to suspected ships, aircraft or vehicles, and for the issue of a search warrant. The modified Regulations make it a criminal offence to contravene, or circumvent, any of the prohibitions in the modified Regulations and prescribe the penalties that apply to such offences. This Order also extends to the territories for the purposes of the modified Regulations specific provisions of Part 1 of the Sanctions Act, namely provisions relating to protection for acts done for purposes of compliance, Crown application and saving for prerogative powers. This Order revokes the Iran (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/1598). An Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this instrument: the territorial extent of the instrument and the modified Regulations is the British overseas territories listed in Schedule 1, and no, or no significant, impact is foreseen on the private, voluntary or public sectors in the United Kingdom.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

In regulation 28 (export of restricted goods), at the end insert— 3 A person who contravenes a prohibition…paragraph 15 of SCHEDULE 2
In regulation 37 (export of unmanned aerial vehicle goods), at the end insert— 3 A person who contravenes a…paragraph 18 of SCHEDULE 2
In regulation 49 (detention of ships)— a in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3), for “Secretary of State”, in each…paragraph 24 of SCHEDULE 2
Where a detention direction is given under this regulation in relation to a ship, an authorised officer may…paragraph 24(d) of SCHEDULE 2
Trade: information offences 73A 1 A person commits an offence if that person— a without reasonable excuse,…paragraph 46 of SCHEDULE 2
A person who commits an offence under any provision of Part 3 (Finance), regulation 46(4) (prohibition on…paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2
A person who commits an offence under regulations 11(6) or 13(6) (confidentiality), 66 (trade: licensing…paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2
A person who commits an offence under regulation 47(6) (directions prohibiting port entry: confidentiality),…paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2
A person who commits an offence under regulations 11(6) or 13(6) (confidentiality), 66 (trade: licensing…paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2
A person who commits an offence under regulation 47(6) (directions prohibiting port entry: confidentiality),…paragraph 53 of SCHEDULE 2
A person commits an offence if that person— a without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails within the time…paragraph 73A(1) of SCHEDULE 2

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Iran (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2023 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
International sanctions, export control and trade restrictionsOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2023