Power to indicate presence of obstructions near airports

article 9(7) of The Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994

• Revoked
• Requires proof of a state of mind
• Either way
• Transport: maritime, aviation, rail and harbours

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

7 Subject to paragraph (8), any person who, at any time when an order under this Article is in force in respect of an airport, intentionally and without the consent of the airport operator, interferes with any works or things executed, placed on or affixed on, under or over any land in pursuance of the order shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

6 months, or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

acting without the licence or authorisation required

Fault element

Requires proof of a state of mind

Burden of proof

No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally; qualified by absence of consent (an element).

What would breach article 9(7)?

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. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994.
2. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
3. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

Penalty

Mode of trial

Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court

Maximum fine

£2,500

Standard scale

Level 4

Maximum prison (summary)

6 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.

• Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales

  How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.

• Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016

  Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.

• Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.

• Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017

  The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.

• General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019

  The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.

• Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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

Revoked

Revoked by

The Competition Act 1998 (Transitional, Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2000

Revoked on

1 March 2000

Made

24 February 1994

In force from

Not determined

Extent

Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

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

In this Order— a Parts II and III re-enact with amendments the Aerodromes Act (Northern Ireland) 1971. New provision is made for consultation by certain airport operators with users of airports and other affected interests (Article 20); b Part IV provides for the regulation of airport charges at certain airports and the imposition by the CAA of conditions in relation to such airports; c Part V provides for the vesting of certain assets and liabilities of Northern Ireland Airports Limited and of the airport assets of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company in a company nominated by the Department or in the Department.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

• The Fair Trading Act 1973 (C 41) Lords · 20 October 1998

  (2) The provisions are— (a) sections 10(2), 54(5) and 78(3) and paragraph 3(1) and (2) of Schedule 8 to the Fair Trading Act 1973 (c. 41), (b) section 11(8)(b) of the Competition Act 1980 (c. 21), (c) section 14(2) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12), (d) section 45(3) of the Airports Act 1986 (c. 31), (e) section 25(2) of the Gas Act 1986 (c. 44), (f) section 13(2) of the Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29), (g)…

• Financial Services And Markets Bill Lords · 9 May 2000

  1. The Fair Trading Act 1973 2. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 3. The Estate Agents Act 1979 4. The Competition Act 1980 5. The Telecommunications Act 1984 6. The Airports Act 1986 7. The Gas Act 1986 8. The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 9. The Electricity Act 1989 10. The Broadcasting Act 1990 11. The Water Industry Act 1991 12. The Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 13. The Railways…

• Application Of Part 10 To Northern Ireland Commons · 19 May 2003

  ""police force" means— (a) the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve, (b) the Ministry of Defence Police, (c) any body of constables appointed under Article 19 of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 (S.I. 1994/426 (N.I. 1)), or (d) any body of special constables appointed in Northern Ireland under section 79 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (c.…

• Digital Economy Bill (Eleventh sitting) Commons · 1 November 2016 · Louise Haigh

  It is very welcome to hear that all new franchise agreements—the Minister is nodding—will contain a requirement for wi-fi. I am happy to withdraw the motion. Before I do, I add my thanks to you, Mr Stringer, and to Mr Streeter. You have both kept us in order and guided us through, particularly me in my first time on the Front Bench in a Bill Committee. I was put in this job two days before the Committee proceedings…

Other offences in the same instrument

• SCHEDULE 4SCHEDULE 4
• Power to control traffic in interests of safety of aircraftarticle 11(5)
• Power of entry in connection with compulsory acquisition of landarticle 4(3)
• Breach of accounts conditions: criminal penalties, etcarticle 41(1)
• Breach of accounts conditions: criminal penalties, etcarticle 41(2)
• Breach of accounts conditions: criminal penalties, etcarticle 41(3)
• Furnishing of information, etc. to CAAarticle 48(3)
• Furnishing of information, etc. to CAAarticle 48(4)
• Restriction on disclosure of informationarticle 49(5)
• Power to obtain rights over landarticle 7(10)
• Power to obtain rights over landarticle 7(11)
• Power to indicate presence of obstructions near airportsarticle 9(9)

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

• This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
• The Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Transport: maritime, aviation, rail and harboursOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1994