UK Offence Report

5 Any person to whom an individual estimate or return or any information relating to an individual…

article 8(5) of The Statistics of Trade and Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 1988

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

5 Any person to whom an individual estimate or return or any information relating to an individual undertaking is disclosed under Article 7(1)(a) or (4) who uses that estimate, return or information—

a for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was disclosed to him; or in contravention of any directions which were—

i given under Article 7(1)(a) in connection with the disclosure of that estimate, return or information; and

ii notified to him in writing, shall be guilty of an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 8(5)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Statistics of Trade and Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 1988, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
23 March 1988
In force from
24 May 1988
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order re-enacts with amendments the Statistics of Trade Act (Northern Ireland) 1949. The principal amendments are— a to require returns and estimates to be furnished in respect of undertakings which provide employment; b to replace the requirement for Departments to consult a Trade Statistics Consultative Committee before requiring returns or estimates to be furnished with a requirement to consult a new committee appointed under the order; c to revise certain offences relating to the unauthorised disclosure of information and to remove the requirement for officers of Government Departments to make declarations against unauthorised disclosure; d to increase fines; e to authorise the disclosure of information obtained under the Order to public bodies, to consultants employed by Government departments or public bodies and to certain computer personnel and to penalise the misuse of such information by a person to whom it is disclosed; f to revise the list of matters about which persons may be required to give information. g to omit the requirement for a report on each census of production to be laid before the Assembly.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source