UK Offence Report

Director disqualification: licensing offences

regulation 95A(1) of The Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) 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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 95A(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 Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) 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 in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
5 June 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”). These Regulations make amendments to number of sanctions regulations, which have been made under section 1 of the Sanctions Act. These 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 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/411), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/433), the South Sudan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/438), the Iran (Sanctions) (Nuclear) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/461), the Counter-Terrorism (International Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/573), the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/577), the Central African Republic (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations (S.I. 2020/616), the Somalia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/642), the Mali (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/705), the Sudan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/753), the Yemen (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1278), and the Libya (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1665). The Regulations also amend the following sanctions regulations to make amendment to the provisions 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the South Sudan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida (United Nations Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/466), the Central African Republic (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, the Iraq (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/707), the Sudan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, the Syria (United Nations Sanctions) (Cultural Property) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1233), and the Libya (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. They also amend the Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to introduce immigration sanctions to that regime. 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

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