UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020

article 4 of The Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 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

4 After paragraph 26D, insert— 26DA In regulation 46IA (interpretation), in paragraph (1), in the definition of “third country”, for “United Kingdom, the Isle of Man” substitute “Territory”. 26DB In regulation 46IB (import of relevant processed iron or steel products), after paragraph (2) insert—

3 A person who contravenes

a prohibition in paragraph (1) commits an offence, but it is

a defence for

a person charged with the offence of contravening paragraph (1) to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the goods were relevant processed iron or steel products.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

enes a prohibition in paragraph (1) commits an offence, but it is a defence for a person charged with the offence of contravening paragraph (1) to show that the person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the goods were relevant processed iron or steel products.

What would breach article 4?

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 an offence is committed where a person contravenes a prohibition in paragraph (1).
  2. Moving the goods across the border under the Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2023 without the licence the instrument requires.
  3. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  4. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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
19 July 2023
In force from
Not determined
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes amendments to the Russia (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/1571) (“the Principal Order”). The Principal Order extends with modifications the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/855) (“the Russia sanctions regulations”) as amended from time to time to all British overseas territories except Bermuda and Gibraltar (which implement sanctions under their own legislative arrangements). The Russia sanctions regulations established a sanctions regime in relation to Russia for the purpose of encouraging Russia to cease actions destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine. The Russia sanctions regulations have recently been amended by the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/440); the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/665) and the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/713) (together “the amending regulations”). This Order makes the necessary amendments to the Principal Order to give effect in the relevant British overseas territories to the changes made to the Russia sanctions regime by the amending regulations: to modify offences in relation to export of goods to non-government controlled Ukrainian territory; to modify relevant offences in relation to import of relevant processed iron or steel products and revenue generating goods from Russia; to modify certain provision in relation to prohibitions on the provision of professional and business services. An Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this Order: the territorial extent of both this Order and the Principal Order is the British overseas territories listed in the Schedule to this Order and no, or no significant, impact is foreseen on the private, voluntary or public sector in the United Kingdom.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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