UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020

regulation 13(8) of The Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Revocations) 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

8 After regulation 23 (finance: licensing offences), insert— Director disqualification: licensing offences 23A

1 A person (“P”) commits an offence if 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 director disqualification 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 13(8)?

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 Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Revocations) Regulations 2024.
  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
14 May 2024
In force from
16 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 are made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (c. 13) (“the Sanctions Act”). The Regulations make amendments to a number of sanctions regulations which have been made under section 1 of the Sanctions Act. The Regulations amend the following sanctions regulations to introduce a new power to designate persons for the purpose of disqualifying those persons from being a director of a company or directly or indirectly taking part in or being concerned in the promotion, formation or management of a company; namely— the Venezuela (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/135), the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/554), the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/600), the Zimbabwe (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/604), the Chemical Weapons (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/618), the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/792), the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/855), the Guinea (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1145), the Cyber (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/597), the Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/608), the Nicaragua (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/610), the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/680), the Unauthorised Drilling Activities in the Eastern Mediterranean (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1474) the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/488), and the Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/496). The Regulations also amend provisions of the following sanctions regulations relating to the enforcement of trade sanctions, in particular as regards the application of enforcement provisions of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2): the Venezuela (Sanctions) (Human Rights) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the Zimbabwe (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, and the Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations 2021. Regulation 4 also makes further amendments and corrections to the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019: to introduce a new obligation for designated persons to report funds or economic resources which that person owns, holds or controls, and the location of those. This is supported by a new power for the Treasury to impose civil monetary penalties where a person commits an offence by refusing or failing to comply with that obligation, or knowingly or recklessly, giving false information, to introduce new trade prohibitions in relation to aluminium and certain critical-industry goods and critical-industry technology concerning: electronics, navigation and avionics, and aerospace and propulsion, to make minor corrections (see paragraph 6(b), (23) and (24)). These Regulations also revoke the Burundi (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1142). 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. An impact assessment was, however, produced for the Sanctions Act 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 A paper copy of the impact assessment may be obtained in writing from the offices of 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 0.92.

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