S.I. No. 366/2006 - European Communities (Control of Trade in Goods That May Be Used for Torture) Regulations 2006

S.I. No. 366 of 2006

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CONTROL OF TRADE IN GOODS THAT MAY BE USED FOR TORTURE) REGULATIONS 2006.

I, Micheál Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving full effect to Council Regulation (EC) No. 1236/2005¹ of 27 June 2005, hereby make the following regulations:

1.         (1)       These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Control of Trade in Goods that may be used for Torture) Regulations 2006.

(2)       These Regulations come into operation on 30 July 2006.

2.         (1)       In these Regulations -

“authorisation” means the authorisation that is required under the Council Regulation in order to export such of the goods to which the Council Regulation applies, the export of which may take place under the Council Regulation and which are listed in Annex III of the Council Regulation;

“authorised officer” means a person appointed under Regulation 3 of these Regulations;

“Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1236/2005 of 27 June 2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

“goods to which the Council Regulation applies” means -

goods, the export of which is prohibited under Article 3 of the Council Regulation, or the import of which is prohibited under Article 4 of the Council Regulation and which are listed in Annex II of the Council Regulation, or

goods, the export of which may take place under the Council Regulation and which are listed in Annex III of the Council Regulation;

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

(2)       A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Council Regulation has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Council Regulation.

3.         (1)  The Minister may appoint one or more persons to be an authorised officer or authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations.

(2)  A person appointed under this Regulation shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished with a certificate of his or her appointment and when exercising a power conferred by these Regulations shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such certificate to that person for inspection.

(3)  An authorised officer may for the purposes of the Council Regulation or these Regulations—

(a) enter at all reasonable times any land or premises on which the business of the export or import of goods to which the Council Regulation applies (whether or not in addition to other goods) is carried on or the export of goods to which the Council Regulation applies is organised or arranged,

(b) require any person in occupation of the said land or premises or who carries on a business aforesaid or does anything else aforesaid on the said land or premises to produce to him or her such documents, records or materials as are in that person's possession or control relating to the export or import of goods, or the organisation or arrangement of the export of goods to which the Council Regulation applies, to give to him or her such information as he or she may reasonably require in regard to such documents, records or materials,

(c) either on the said land or premises or elsewhere, inspect and copy or extract information from documents, records or materials produced to him or her under subparagraph (b) or which he or she finds on the said land or premises.

4.         (1) A person who-

(a) exports or supplies technical assistance in relation to goods to which the Council Regulation applies contrary to Article 3 of the Council Regulation,

(b) imports or accepts technical assistance in relation to goods to which the Council Regulation applies contrary to Article 4 of the Council Regulation,

(c) exports goods to which the Council Regulation applies-

(i) without an authorisation, or

(ii) otherwise than in compliance with a condition to which the authorisation is subject imposed by the competent authority,

(d) otherwise contravenes a provision of the Council Regulation, or

(e)      for the purpose of obtaining an authorisation for himself or herself or for any other person makes to the competent authority or to any person concerned a statement or representation which is, to his or her knowledge false or misleading, or

(d)  otherwise contravenes a provision of the Council Regulation,

is guilty of an offence.

(2)  A person who—

(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of his or her powers under Regulation 3,

(b) without reasonable excuse, refuses or fails to comply with a requirement made of him or her under subparagraph (b) of Regulation 3(3) by an authorised officer, or

(c) makes a statement or furnishes information to an authorised officer pursuant to a requirement made of him or her under the said subparagraph (b of Regulation 3(3) by such an officer, which is, to his or her knowledge, false or misleading in a material respect,

is guilty of an offence.

3) A person guilty of an offence under this Regulation shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

(4)       (a) Where-

(i)  an offence under this Regulation is committed by a body corporate and,

(ii)  is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a person who was either-

(I) a director, manager, secretary to other officer of the body corporate, or

(II) a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,

that person, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of an offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(b)  Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members paragraph (a) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member's functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of the body corporate.

(c)      The foregoing provisions shall apply, with the necessary modifications in relation to offences under these Regulations committed by an unincorporated body.

(5)  An offence under this Regulation may be prosecuted by the Minister.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The effect of this Order is to provide effective control of trade in goods that may be used for torture as provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1236/2005 of 27 June, 2005, and to provide for penalties for breaches of the Regulation.

¹ O.J. L200, 30.7.2005 p.1