The Trade in Goods (Control) (Overseas Territories) Order 2004

GENERAL

Offences and penalties

9.—(1) Any person who contravenes a prohibition in paragraph 3 or 4 shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or the equivalent.

(2) Any person knowingly concerned in the supply, delivery, transfer, acquisition or disposal of any restricted or controlled goods with intent to evade any prohibition or restriction in paragraph 3(1) or 4 shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person knowingly concerned in the supply or delivery of any restricted goods with intent to evade any prohibition or restriction in paragraph 3(2) shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (2) or (3) shall be liable —

(a)on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or the equivalent or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both; or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine of any amount, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or to both.

(5) 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.

(6) Summary proceedings for an offence under this Order, being an offence alleged to have been committed outside the Territory, may be instituted at any time not later than 12 months from the date on which the person charged first enters the Territory after committing the offence.

(7) Proceedings against any person for an offence under this Order may be taken before the appropriate court in the Territory having jurisdiction where that person is for the time being.

(8) No proceedings for an offence under this Order shall be instituted in the Territory except by or with the consent of the principal public officer of the Territory having responsibility for criminal prosecutions, but this sub-paragraph shall not prevent the arrest, or the issue or the 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 has not been obtained.

Misleading applications for licences etc.

10.—(1) Where for the purpose of obtaining a licence under this Order any person either —

(a)makes any statement or furnishes any document or information which to his knowledge is false in a material particular; or

(b)recklessly makes any statement or furnishes any document or information which is false in a material particular,

he shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (1) shall be liable —

(a)on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or the equivalent; or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine of any amount, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both,

and any licence which may have been granted by the Governor in connection with the application for which the false statement was made or the false document or information was furnished shall be void as from the time it was granted.

Failure to comply with licence conditions

11.—(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (3), any person who —

(a)has done any act under the authority of a licence granted by the Governor under this Order, and

(b)fails to comply with —

(i)any conditions attaching to that licence;

(ii)any obligation under paragraph 6; or

(iii)any obligation under paragraph 7,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (1) shall be liable —

(a)on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or the equivalent; or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine of any amount, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

(3) No person shall be guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (1) where —

(a)the licence condition in question had been previously modified by the Governor; and

(b)the alleged failure to comply would not have been a failure had the licence not been so modified; and

(c)the condition with which he failed to comply was modified by the Governor after the doing of the act authorised by the licence.

Application of customs and excise law

12.—(1) It shall be the duty of the customs authorities to take such action as they consider appropriate to secure the enforcement of paragraphs 3, 4, 10 and 11 and any obligation arising under paragraph 7 insofar as the obligation relates to the powers of the customs authorities.

(2) The provisions of the law of the Territory relating to proceedings for offences, mitigation of penalties, proof and other matters in respect of the control of imports and exports apply in relation to offences and penalties under this Order, and proceedings for such offences, as they apply in relation to offences and penalties and proceedings for offences under those provisions.

(3) For the purposes of this Order, offences other than those in respect of which a duty is imposed upon the customs authorities by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) shall not be offences in respect of which, under any law of the Territory relating to the control of imports and exports, proceedings may be taken only by, or by order of, the customs authorities.

Use and disclosure of information

13.—(1) This paragraph applies to information which is held by —

(a)the Governor; or

(b)the customs authorities,

in connection with the operation of controls imposed by this Order, on activities which facilitate or are otherwise connected with the supply or delivery of restricted goods or the transfer, acquisition or disposal of controlled goods.

(2) Information to which this paragraph applies may be used for the purposes of, or for any purposes connected with —

(a)the exercise of functions in relation to any control imposed by this Order or by any other order made under the Act;

(b)giving effect to any European Community or other international obligation of the United Kingdom;

(c)facilitating the exercise by an authority or international organisation outside the Territory of functions which correspond to functions conferred by or in connection with any activity subject to control by this Order or any other order made under the Act; and

may be disclosed to any person for use for these purposes.

(3) No disclosure of information shall be made by virtue of this paragraph unless the making of the disclosure is proportionate to the object of the disclosure.

(4) For the purposes of this paragraph, “information” is any information that relates to a particular business or other activity carried on by a person.

(5) Nothing in this paragraph shall be taken to affect any power to disclose information that exists apart from this paragraph.

(6) The information that may be disclosed by virtue of this paragraph includes information obtained before the commencement of this Order.

Service of notices

14.  Any notice to be given by any person under this Order may be given by an agent of that person and shall be sent by post or delivered to the Governor at an address specified in the official gazette of the Territory.