UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 7(2) of The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024

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 The registrar may not impose

a daily rate penalty unless the person’s conduct constitutes an offence in respect of which

a daily default fine may be imposed in the jurisdiction in which the offence was committed.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 7(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

stated as £10000, but uncapped in England and Wales by LASPO 2012 s.85(1) ("£5,000 or more, however expressed") for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015.

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
26 March 2024
In force from
2 May 2024
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 make provision relating to companies on the register kept by the registrar of companies (“the registrar”) in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 (c. 46). The provisions relate to financial penalties, appeals and enforcement. The Regulations also amend the Register of Overseas Entities (Penalties and Northern Ireland Dispositions) Regulations 2023 in relation to the circumstances in which a financial penalty may not be imposed. Part 2 confers power on the registrar to impose a financial penalty on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person has engaged in conduct amounting to a relevant offence, as defined in section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006. Regulations 4 and 5 set out the process by which the registrar may issue warning and penalty notices, as well as the necessary content of such notices, and the time periods for issuing such notices. Regulation 6 allows the registrar to vary or revoke a penalty notice, as they consider appropriate, subject to regulation 7. Regulation 7 sets out the maximum financial penalty that may be imposed under these Regulations and the rules for imposing and calculating penalties under a penalty notice. Regulation 8 describes the process by which a person who has received a penalty notice may appeal and the time limits for applying for such an appeal. Regulation 9 allows the registrar to recover the financial penalty (with any accrued interest) after the expiry of the period stated in the penalty notice, if no appeal has been brought or if an appeal has been determined or withdrawn. It also describes how the financial penalty is treated for recovery purposes in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Part 5 makes amendments to the Register of Overseas Entities (Penalties and Northern Ireland Dispositions) Regulations 2023. Regulation 11 substitutes a new regulation 3(2), which clarifies the circumstances in which a financial penalty may not be imposed and aligns with the amendments made to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Regulations 12 to 20 make minor amendments to clarify the process for issuing a financial penalty and the calculation of such a penalty. 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.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 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