The Lebanon and Syria (United Nations Measures) (Isle of Man) Order 2006

Citation, commencement, extent and application

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Lebanon and Syria (United Nations Measures) (Isle of Man) Order 2006 and shall come into force on 31st May 2006.

(2) This Order shall extend to the Isle of Man as part of its law.

(3) Articles 4, 5 and 7 shall apply to any person within the Isle of Man and to any person elsewhere who is—

(a) a British citizen, a British overseas territories citizen, a British Overseas citizen, a British subject, a British National (Overseas) or a British protected person and who is ordinarily resident in the Isle of Man;

(b) a body incorporated or constituted under the law of the Isle of Man.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“custody” means custody within the meaning of the Custody Act 1995 (an Act of Tynwald);

“designated person” means any person for the time being designated under paragraph 3(a) of the Security Council Resolution and registered by the Committee of the Security Council established pursuant to paragraph 3(b) that Resolution;

“document” includes information recorded in any form and, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to its production include references to producing a copy of the information in legible form;

“economic resources” means assets of every kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, which are not funds but can be used to obtain funds, goods or services;

“funds” means financial assets and benefits of every kind, including (but not limited to)—

(a)

cash, cheques, claims on money, drafts, money orders and other payment instruments;

(b)

deposits with relevant institutions or other persons, balances on accounts, debts and debt obligations;

(c)

publicly and privately traded securities and debt instruments, including stocks and shares, certificates representing securities, bonds, notes, warrants, debentures and derivatives contracts;

(d)

interest, dividends or other income on or value accruing from or generated by assets;

(e)

credit, right of set-off, guarantees, performance bonds or other financial commitments;

(f)

letters of credit, bills of lading, bills of sale; and

(g)

documents evidencing an interest in funds or financial resources;

“officer”, in relation to a body corporate, means a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who has purported to act in any such capacity;

“relevant institution” means—

(a)

the person who may lawfully accept deposits in or from within the Isle of Man by way of business;

(b)

a building society within the meaning of section 7 of the Industrial and Building Societies Act 1892 (an Act of Tynwald);

“the Security Council Resolution” means resolution 1636 (2005) adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations on 31st October 2005;

“the Treasury” means the Isle of Man Treasury, a department of the Government of the Isle of Man.

Publicly available list of designated persons

3.  The Treasury must—

(a) maintain a list of designated persons; and

(b) make the list publicly available.

Freezing funds and economic resources

4.—(1) A person (including the designated person) must not deal with funds or economic resources owned, held or controlled by a designated person unless he does so under the authority of a licence granted under article 9.

(2) A person who contravenes the prohibition in paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence.

(3) In proceedings for an offence under this article, it is a defence for a person to show that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that he was dealing with funds or economic resources owned, held or controlled by a designated person.

(4) In this article, “to deal with” means—

(a) in respect of funds—

(i) to use, alter, move, allow access to or transfer;

(ii) to deal with in any other way that would result in any change in volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character or destination; or

(iii) to make any other change that would enable use, including portfolio management;

(b) in respect of economic resources, to use to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, including (but not limited to) by selling, hiring or mortgaging the resources.

Making funds and economic resources available

5.—(1) A person must not make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person unless he does so under the authority of a licence granted under article 9.

(2) A person who contravenes the prohibition in paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence.

(3) In proceedings for an offence under this article, it is a defence for a person to show that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that he was making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person.

Exceptions

6.—(1) A person is not guilty of an offence under article 4 or 5 if he credits a frozen account with interest or other earnings on the account.

(2) A relevant institution is not guilty of an offence under article 4 or 5 if the institution credits a frozen account with funds transferred by a third party, provided that the institution informs the Treasury without delay.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, article 4 applies to any funds credited to a frozen account in accordance with this article.

(4) In this article—

“frozen account” means an account of a designated person;

“third party” means a person other than the account-holder or the relevant institution with which the account is maintained.

Circumventing prohibitions etc

7.  A person is guilty of an offence if he participates, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is, directly or indirectly, to—

(a) circumvent a prohibition in article 4(1) or 5(1); or

(b) enable or facilitate the commission of an offence under article 4 or 5.

Acting on behalf of a designated person etc

8.—(1) Where the condition in paragraph (2) is satisfied, the Treasury may direct that articles 4 to 7 are to apply in respect of a person identified in the direction as if he were a designated person.

(2) The condition in this paragraph is that the Treasury have reasonable grounds for suspecting that the person identified in the direction is or may be—

(a) owned or controlled by a designated person; or

(b) acting on behalf of or at the direction of a designated person.

(3) A direction under paragraph (1) has effect—

(a) for such period as the Treasury may specify in the direction; or

(b) until the direction is revoked or set aside.

(4) The Treasury may revoke a direction at any time.

(5) The Treasury, where they issue or revoke a direction, must—

(a) give written notice of the direction or revocation to the person identified in the direction; and

(b) make information as to the direction or revocation publicly available.

(6) The High Court may set aside a direction on the application of—

(a) the person identified in the direction; or

(b) any other person affected by the direction.

(7) A person who makes an application under paragraph (6) must give a copy of the application and any witness statement or affidavit in support to the Treasury not later than seven days before the date fixed for the hearing of the application.

Licences

9.—(1) The Treasury may grant a licence to exempt acts specified in the licence from the prohibition in article 4(1) or 5(1).

(2) A licence may relate to—

(a) basic expenses, including payments for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage, medicines, medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums and public utility charges;

(b) payment of reasonable professional fees and expenses associated with the provision of legal services;

(c) payment of fees or service charges for the routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or economic resources.

(3) A licence may be—

(a) general or granted to a particular person;

(b) absolute or subject to conditions;

(c) of indefinite duration or subject to an expiry date.

(4) The Treasury may vary or revoke a licence at any time.

(5) The Treasury, where it grants, varies or revokes a licence, must—

(a) in the case of a licence granted to a particular person, give written notice of the licence, variation or revocation to that person; and

(b) in the case of a general licence, make information as to the licence, variation or revocation publicly available.

(6) Any person who, for the purpose of obtaining a licence, knowingly or recklessly makes any statement or furnishes any document or information which is false in a material particular is guilty of an offence.

(7) Any person who has done any act under the authority of a licence and who fails to comply with any conditions attaching to that licence is guilty of an offence.

Evidence and information

10.  The Schedule (which contains further provisions about evidence and information) shall have effect.

Penalties

11.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under article 4, 5 or 7 is liable—

(a) on conviction on information, to custody for a term not exceeding seven years or to a fine or to both; or

(b) on summary conviction, to custody for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under article 9(6) or (7) or under paragraph 4(b) or (d) of the Schedule is liable—

(a) on conviction on information, to custody for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both; or

(b) on summary conviction, to custody for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph 2(3) or 4(a) or (c) of the Schedule is liable on summary conviction to custody for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

Penalties: supplementary

12.  If an offence under this Order committed by a body corporate is shown—

(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the body corporate; or

(b) to be attributable to any neglect on his part,

the officer as well as the body corporate is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Proceedings

13.—(1) No proceedings for an offence may be instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for the Isle of Man.

(2) Irrespective of whether such consent has been given, paragraph (1) does not prevent—

(a) the arrest of any person in respect of an offence under this Order; or

(b) the remand in custody or on bail of any person charged with such an offence.

14.—(1) A complaint relating to an offence under this Order which is triable by a court of summary jurisdiction may be heard if it is made—

(a) before the end of twelve months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify the proceedings came to his knowledge; but

(b) not later than three years from the commission of the offence.

(2) This article has effect notwithstanding anything in section 75(1) of the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1989 (an Act of Tynwald).

(3) For the purposes of this article—

(a) a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor as to the date on which such evidence as is referred to in paragraph (1) came to his knowledge is conclusive evidence of that fact;

(b) a certificate purporting to be so signed is presumed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved;

(c) section 27(2) of the Police Powers and Procedure Act 1998 (an Act of Tynwald) applies to an offence which is not an arrestable offence by virtue of the term of custody for which a person may be sentenced in respect of it, as if they were mentioned in that subsection.

Notices

15.—(1) This article has effect in relation to any notice to be given to a person by the Treasury under article 8(5)(a) or 9(5)(a).

(2) Any such notice may be given—

(a) by posting it to his last known address; or

(b) where the person is a body corporate, by posting it to the registered or principal office of the body corporate in the Isle of Man.

(3) Where the Treasury does not have such an address for the person, it must make arrangements for the notice to be given to him at the first available opportunity.

Functions of the Treasury

16.—(1) The Treasury may, to such extent and subject to such restrictions and conditions as it may think proper, delegate or authorise the delegation of any of its functions under this Order to any person or class or description of persons.

(2) References in this Order to the Treasury are to be construed accordingly.

Postponement etc of the operation of the Security Council Resolution

17.—(1) If the Security Council of the United Nations takes any decision which has the effect of postponing, suspending or cancelling the operation of the Security Council Resolution, in whole or in part, this Order shall cease to have effect or its operation shall be postponed or suspended, in whole or in part as the case may be, in accordance with that decision.

(2) The Treasury must make particulars of the decision publicly available.

A. K. Galloway

Clerk of the Privy Council