UK Offence Report

Insertion of regulation 68ZA

regulation 23 of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

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

23 After regulation

68 insert— Detained transport asset: licensing offences 68ZA

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 detained transport asset 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 23?

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 Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026.
  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
18 May 2026
In force from
20 May 2026
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). Regulations 3 to 29 amend the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/855) (“the 2019 Regulations”). Regulation 30 amends the Trade, Aircraft and Shipping Sanctions (Civil Enforcement) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/948) (“the TASSCE Regulations”). These Regulations amend Part 5 (Trade), and associated Schedules, of the 2019 Regulations to impose new trade sanctions— in relation to the provision and procurement of services relating to specified ships (regulation 7); in relation to the import and provision of ancillary services relating to relevant processed oil products (regulation 8); in relation to the import, acquisition, supply and delivery and provision of ancillary services relating to uranium (regulation 9); in relation to the maritime transportation and provision of ancillary services relating to liquefied natural gas (regulation 10); in relation to the acquisition of a detained transport asset (regulation 11). Consequential amendments are made at regulations regulation 3 and 4. Regulation 5 amends regulation 5 of the 2019 Regulations to specify the prohibition on acquisition of a detained transport asset as a purpose for which a person may be designated; in relation to the provision of construction services (regulation 12); to add additional goods to Schedule 2A (critical industry goods and critical industry technology) (regulation 29); to add additional goods to Schedule 2E (quantum computing and advanced materials technology) (regulation 29); to add additional goods to Schedule 3C (defence and security goods and defence and security technology) (regulations 6 and 29); to add additional goods to Schedule 3E (G7 dependency and further goods and G7 dependency and further technology) (regulation 29). Regulations 13 to 15 amend Part 6 (Ships) of the 2019 Regulations to impose new shipping sanctions in relation to specified ships, to specify the new trade and shipping sanctions as purposes for which a ship may be specified and to specify additional relevant activities a ship may be involved in. Consequential amendments are made at regulations regulation 3 and 4. Regulations 16 to 19 create exceptions to the prohibitions introduced. Regulations 20 to 22 make provision for licences and regulation 23 creates licensing offences. Regulations 25 to 28 make provision for the enforcement of the new prohibitions. Regulation 24 contains consequential amendments to information powers. Regulation 29 also amends Schedules to the 2019 Regulations to correct commodity codes and descriptions, omit commodity codes that have been replaced at a higher level and introduce definitions relating to the uranium and construction services prohibitions. Regulation 30 amends the TASSCE Regulations to carve offences related to the acquisition of a detained transport asset out from CEMA enforcement and to bring ship licensing offences and certain offences related to the acquisition of a detained transport asset within scope of the investigatory powers in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (c. 15). A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from 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