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Obtaining of evidence and information
11.
The provisions of the Schedule to this Order shall have effect in order to facilitate the obtaining, by or on behalf of the Secretary of State or the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, of evidence and information for the purpose of securing compliance with or detecting evasion of this Order and in order to facilitate the obtaining, by or on behalf of the Secretary of State or the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, of evidence of the commission of an offence under this Order or, with respect to any of the matters regulated by this Order, of an offence relating to customs.
Penalties and Proceedings
12.
- (1) Any person guilty of an offence under article 5(3) or article 6(2) of this Order shall be liable:
(a) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years or to a fine or to both; or
(b) on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.
(2) Any person guilty of an offence under article 10(10)(b)(ii) of this Order or paragraph 5(b) or (d) of the Schedule to this Order shall be liable:
(a) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both;
(b) on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.
(3) Any person guilty of an offence under article 8(1) or (2) or article 9(3) of this Order shall be liable:
(a) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both;
(b) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
(4) Any person guilty of an offence under article 7 or article 9(2) of this Order shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(5) Any person guilty of an offence under article 10(10)(a), (b)(i) or (c) of this Order or paragraph 5(a) or (c) of the Schedule to this Order shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.
(6) Where any body corporate is guilty of an offence under this Order, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(7) Notwithstanding anything in section 127(1) of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980[5], a summary offence under this Order may be tried by a magistrates' court in England and Wales if any information is laid at any time within three years after the commission of the offence and within 12 months after the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify the proceedings comes to his knowledge.
(8) Notwithstanding anything in section 331 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975[6] summary proceedings in Scotland for an offence under this Order may be commenced at any time within 12 months after the date on which evidence sufficient in the Lord Advocate's opinion to justify the proceedings came to his knowledge: and subsection (3) of that section applies for the purpose of this paragraph as it applies for the purpose of that section:
Provided that such proceedings shall not be commenced after the expiration of 3 years from the commission of the offence.
(9) Notwithstanding anything in article 19 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981[7], summary proceedings for an offence under this order in Northern Ireland may be instituted at any time within 3 years after the commission of the offence and within 12 months after the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify the proceedings comes to his knowledge.
(10) For the purposes of this article:
(a) a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor or the Lord Advocate (as the case may be) as to the date on which such evidence as is referred to in paragraphs (7), (8) and (9) above came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact; and
(b) a certificate purporting to be so signed shall be presumed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.
(11) Proceedings against any person for an offence under this Order may be taken before the appropriate court in the United Kingdom having jurisdiction in the place where that person is for the time being.
(12) In England and Wales, subsection (2) of section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984[8] shall apply to the offences under this Order that are not arrestable offences by virtue of the term of imprisonment for which a person may be sentenced in respect of them, as if they were mentioned in that subsection; and accordingly such offences shall be arrestable offences within the meaning of that Act.
(13) In Northern Ireland, paragraph (2) of article 26 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989[9] shall apply to the offences under this Order that are not arrestable offences by virtue of a term of imprisonment for which a person may be sentenced in respect of them, as if they were mentioned in that paragraph; and accordingly such offences shall be arrestable offences within the meaning of that Order.
(14) No proceedings for an offence under this Order, other than for a summary offence, shall be instituted in England, Wales or Northern Ireland except by the Secretary of State or with the consent of the Attorney General or, as the case may be, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland:
Provided that this paragraph shall not prevent the arrest, or the issue or execution of a warrant for the arrest, of any person in respect of such an offence, or the remand in custody or on bail of any person charged with such an offence, notwithstanding that the necessary consent to the institution of proceedings for the offence has not been obtained.
Exercise of Powers of the Secretary of State
13.
- (1) The Secretary of State may to such extent and subject to such restrictions and conditions as he may think proper, delegate or authorise the delegation of any of his powers under this Order (other than the power to give authority under the Schedule to this Order to apply for a search warrant) to any person, or class or description of persons, approved by him, and references in this Order to the Secretary of State shall be construed accordingly.
(2) Any licences granted under this Order may be either general or special, may be subject to or without conditions, may be limited so as to expire on a specified date unless renewed and may be varied or revoked by the authority that granted them.
N. H. Nicholls
Clerk of the Privy Council
SCHEDULE
EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION
1.
- (1) Without prejudice to any other provision of this Order, or any provision of any other law, the Secretary of State (or any person authorised by him for that purpose either generally or in a particular case) or the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may request any person in or resident in the United Kingdom to furnish to him (or to that authorised person) any information in his possession or control, or to produce to him (or to that authorised person) any document in his possession or control, which he (or that authorised person) may require for the purpose of securing compliance with or detecting evasion of this Order: and any person to whom such a request is made shall comply with it within such time and in such manner as may be specified in the request.
(2) Nothing in the foregoing sub-paragraph shall be taken to require any person who has acted as counsel or solicitor for any person to disclose any privileged communication made to him in that capacity.
(3) Where a person is convicted of failing to furnish information or produce a document when requested so to do under this paragraph, the court may make an order requiring him, within such period as may be specified in the order, to furnish the information or produce the document.
(4) The power conferred by this paragraph to request any person to produce documents shall include power to take copies of or extracts from any document so produced and to request that person, or, where that person is a body corporate, any other person who is a present or past officer of, or is employed by, the body corporate, to provide an explanation of any of them.
2.
- (1) If any justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath given by any constable or person authorised by the Secretary of State or the Commissioners of Customs and Excise to act for the purposes of this paragraph either generally or in a particular case:
(a) that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this Order or, with respect to any of the matters regulated by this Order, an offence under any enactment relating to customs has been or is being committed and that evidence of the commission of the offence is to be found on any premises specified in the information, or in any vehicle, ship or aircraft so specified; or
(b) that any documents which ought to have been produced under paragraph 1 of this Schedule and have not been produced are to be found on any such premises or in any such vehicle, ship or aircraft,
he may grant a search warrant authorising any constable or any officer of Customs and Excise, together with any other persons named in the warrant and any other constables, to enter the premises specified in the information or, as the case may be, any premises upon which the vehicle, ship or aircraft so specified may be, at any time within one month from the date of the warrant and to search the premises, or as the case may be, the vehicle, ship or aircraft.
(2) Any authorised person who has entered any premises or any vehicle, ship or aircraft in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) above may do any or all of the following things:
(a) inspect and search those premises or any vehicle, ship or aircraft for any material which he has reasonable grounds to believe may be evidence in relation to an offence referred to in this paragraph;
(b) seize anything on the premises or on any vehicle, ship or aircraft which he has reasonable grounds for believing is evidence in relation to an offence referred to in this paragraph;
(c) seize anything on the premises or on any vehicle, ship or aircraft which he has reasonable grounds to believe are required to be produced in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Schedule; or
(d) seize anything that is necessary to be seized in order to prevent it being concealed, lost, damaged, altered or destroyed.
(3) Any information required in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) above which is contained in a computer and is accessible from the premises or from any vehicle, ship or aircraft must be produced in a form in which it can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible.
(4) A constable or officer of Customs and Excise lawfully on the premises or on the vehicle, ship or aircraft by virtue of a warrant issued under sub-paragraph (1) above may:
(a) search any person whom he has reasonable grounds to believe may be in the act of committing an offence referred to in this paragraph; and
(b) seize anything he finds in a search referred to in paragraph (a) above, if he has reasonable grounds for believing that it is evidence of an offence referred to in this paragraph.
(5) Where, by virtue of this paragraph, a person is empowered to enter any premises, vehicle, ship or aircraft he may use such force as is reasonably necessary for that purpose.
(6) Any documents or articles of which possession is taken under this paragraph may be retained for a period of three months or, if within that period there are commenced any proceedings for such an offence as aforesaid to which they are relevant, until the conclusion of those proceedings.
(7) In the application of this paragraph to Scotland any reference to a justice of the peace includes a reference to the sheriff; and any reference to information on oath is a reference to evidence on oath.
3.
A person authorised by the Secretary of State to exercise any power for the purposes of this Schedule shall, if requested to do so, produce evidence of his authority before or on exercising that power.
4.
No information furnished or document produced (including any copy of an extract made of any document produced) by any person in pursuance of a request made under this Schedule and no document seized under paragraph 2(2) of this Schedule shall be disclosed except:
(a) with the consent of the person by whom the information was furnished or the document was produced or the person from whom the document was seized: Provided that a person who has obtained information or is in possession of a document only in his capacity as servant or agent of another person may not give consent for the purposes of this sub-paragraph but such consent may instead by given by any person who is entitled to that information or to the possession of that document in his own right; or
(b) to any person who would have been empowered under this Schedule to request that it be furnished or produced or any person holding or acting in any office under or in the service of the Crown in respect of the Government of the United Kingdom; or
(c) on the authority of the Secretary of State, to any organ of the United Nations or to any person in the service of the United Nations or to the Government of any other country for the purpose of assisting the United Nations or that Government in securing compliance with or detecting evasion of measures in relation to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia decided upon by the Security Council of the United Nations; or
(d) with a view to the institution of, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings for an offence under this Order or, with respect to any of the matters regulated by this Order, for an offence under any enactment relating to customs.
5.
Any person who -
(a) without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails within the time and in the manner specified (or, if no time has been specified, within a reasonable time) to comply with any request made under this Schedule by any person who is empowered to make it; or
(b) wilfully furnishes false information or a false explanation to any person exercising his powers under this Schedule; or
(c) otherwise wilfully obstructs any person in the exercise of his powers under this Schedule; or
(d) with intent to evade the provisions of this Schedule, destroys, mutilates, defaces, secretes or removes any document,
shall be guilty of an offence under this Order.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order, made under the United Nations Act 1946, imposes restrictions pursuant to a decision of the Security Council of the United Nations in Resolution 1160 of 31st March 1998 on the export to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the supply to persons in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of arms and related matériel, and petroleum and petroleum products. It restricts certain related activities including the carriage of prohibited goods in ships, aircraft and vehicles.
Notes:
[5]
1980 c.43.back
[6]
1975 c.21.back
[7]
S.I. 1981/1675 (N.I. 26).back
[8]
1984 c.60.back
[9]
S.I. 1989/1341 (N.I. 12).back
ISBN
0 11 065944 9
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