The Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2007

Offences

14.—(1) A payment service provider is guilty of an offence in respect of any transfer of funds to which the payments regulation applies—

(a) in the case of the payment service provider of the payer, if he fails to comply with any requirement in—

(i) Article 5(1) read with Article 6(1) (information accompanying transfers of funds within the EEA);

(ii) Article 5(2) read with Article 5(3) or (4) (whichever is relevant) (verification of information);

(iii) Article 5(5) (record keeping);

(iv) Article 6(2) (information to be provided following request);

(v) Article 7(1) read with Article 7(2) (information accompanying transfers of funds from the EEA to outside the EEA);

(b) in the case of the payment service provider of the payee, if he fails to comply with any requirement in Article 8 (detection of missing information), 9(1) or the third paragraph of Article 9 (transfers of funds with missing or incomplete information) or Article 11 (record keeping);

(c) in the case of the intermediary payment service provider, if he fails to comply with any requirement in Article 12 (keeping information on the payer with the transfer) or 13(3), (4) or (5) (use of a payment system with technical limitations).

(2) A payment service provider who is guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

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

(3) In deciding whether a person has committed an offence under paragraph (1), the court must consider whether the person followed any relevant guidance which was at the time—

(a) issued by a supervisory authority or any other appropriate body;

(b) approved by the Treasury; and

(c) published in a manner approved by the Treasury as suitable in their opinion to bring the guidance to the attention of persons likely to be affected by it.

(4) In paragraph (3), an “appropriate body” means any body which regulates or is representative of any trade, profession, business or employment carried on by the alleged offender.

(5) A person is not guilty of an offence under this regulation if he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence.

(6) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this regulation, he shall not also be liable to a penalty under regulation 11.