On 2nd October 2000 the Human Rights Act came into force.
From that date the provisions of the European Convention on Human
Rights (ECHR) were incorporated into UK law.
A citizen’s rights under ECHR can now be enforced
directly in the UK courts. The provisions of ECHR apply to
companies as well as individuals.
The legal position is evolving, and following the decision in
the tax case King v UK, see EM1401, HMRC has accepted that a
limited number of penalties involving direct tax could be deemed as
‘criminal’ for the purposes of Article 6 ECHR.
However the guidance in this manual relates to indirect tax,
and all indirect tax penalties apart from Civil Evasion, see
VCP10300, are deemed to be civil
penalties, not ‘criminal’.
Civil penalties are not covered by the Human Rights Act and
there are therefore no HRA implications for the penalties in this
guidance.
