Fraud Law Reform
The Fraud Bill, which aims to reform the existing statutory offences of deception, was introduced in the House of Lords in May 2005.
The Fraud Bill defines a general offence of fraud, with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment, as consisting of:
- fraud by false representation
- fraud by failing to disclose information
- fraud by abuse of position
It also revises offence of obtaining services dishonestly (to fill a legal loophole, since a machine cannot be 'deceived') with a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, and builds on the existing 'going equipped' offence so far as it relates to fraud, to criminalise the act of possessing or making material for use in frauds. The Bill will also extend the scope of the existing offence of fraudulent trading.
All the deception offences under the Theft Acts 1968-1996 to be abolished.
The Bill and Explanatory Notes can be found at the following link:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldbills/007/2006007.htm
Date: Tue Nov 23 00:00:00 GMT 2004
- Responses to fraud law reform - Annex A (74 K )
- Problems with the existing law of fraud - Annex B (111 K )
- Draft final RIA - Annex C (31 K )
- Fraud Bill RIA (49 K )
- Fraud law reform - consultation on proposals for legislation (1 M Warning - large file)
- Fraud law reform - government response to consultations (111 K )
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