Glossary entry

Swedish term or phrase:

befattning

English translation:

(unlawful) possession

Added to glossary by Florin Hulubei
Oct 20, 2016 16:54
7 yrs ago
6 viewers *
Swedish term

befattning

Swedish to English Law/Patents Law: Taxation & Customs Punktskattepliktiga varor
grov olovlig befattning med punktskattepliktiga varor
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 (unlawful) possession
2 +1 (BrE) handling (and receiving)

Proposed translations

+3
25 mins
Selected

(unlawful) possession

Fairly certain this is what you're looking for. A lot of hits on this term in connection with excise duty.
Peer comment(s):

agree Helen Johnson
17 hrs
Thanks Helen!
agree Leif Ohman : "unlawful possession" (w/o paren) seems to be used in statutes that go on to list behaviors covered under it, similarly to how the Swedish statute has a list of behaviors.
1 day 4 hrs
Good one, and I've been going tho this, too!! And found some illicit handling out there as well...At least we'll get it right next time we come across this usage ;-)
agree LilianNekipelov
1 day 17 hrs
Thanks, Lillian
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "tack!"
+1
1 hr

(BrE) handling (and receiving)

Receiving as an offenc/se has been abolished in the UK - I guess in American-speak.
Peer comment(s):

agree Leif Ohman : handling seems to be the right term
5 hrs
Thanks and tack, tack!
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

6 hrs
Reference:

Specific methods of handling certain goods.

Den som... emballerar, transporterar, förvarar, döljer, bearbetar,
förvärvar, överlåter eller ingår avtal om upplåtelse av panträtt i en
vara som... döms för olovlig befattning med smuggelgods

Source (p. 17):
http://www.gov.se/contentassets/8d90d0b9228a4ecb83fdea07d949...

illicit handling of chemical weapons (olovlig befattning med kemiska vapen).

illicit handling of mines (olovlig befattning med minor).

Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl-nat.nsf/a/9d87...


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Note added at 1 day2 hrs (2016-10-21 19:47:22 GMT)
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Reply to Deane:
Sounds like constructive possession to me, although an actual statute might not use such a term.
It may have language like "deemed to have possession". Or maybe not. You may very well be right.
The U.S. Supreme Court has supposedly said that "there is no word more ambiguous in its meaning than possession".
How about "illicit handling of SALW" for "olaglig hantering av handeldvapen och lätta vapen"
Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/AUTO/?uri=CELEX:52003...
Is that also a poor translation?


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Note added at 1 day6 hrs (2016-10-21 22:58:40 GMT)
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"handling" may not be right in English-speaking countries or for an audience of native speakers of English.

In a setting where you need to coordinate different language versions between only a handful of international languages, such as Mandarin, Spanish and English, it may not be such a bad choice.

It may actually be more easily understood by more people.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

neutral Deane Goltermann : My read on this is that these references are (poor) translations for a Swedish customer, albeit the gov't. The definition of possession covers all types of 'handling', which is the purpose of the Swedish term. Maybe the Swe EU text version is incorrect!
8 hrs
See my reply above
agree LilianNekipelov
1 day 11 hrs
Something went wrong...
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