What would breach article 99(1) of The Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995?

On these words an offence is committed where a person neglects or refuses to produce a document when required to do so under Article 96. Not doing what the provision requires under the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, by the time it requires it to be done. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Information and inspection: penalties

Q: Is article 99(1) of The Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 a strict liability offence?

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.

article 99(1) of The Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Revoked
Strict liability
Either way
Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 A person who, without reasonable excuse, neglects or refuses to produce
a document when required to do so under Article
96 is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A person who, without reasonable excuse, neglects or refuses to produce a document when required to do so under Article 96 is guilty of an offence.

What would breach article 99(1)?

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.

On these words an offence is committed where a person neglects or refuses to produce a document when required to do so under Article 96.
Not doing what the provision requires under the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, by the time it requires it to be done.
Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Standard scale: Level 5
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

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.
Fraud, bribery and money laundering offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2014
Covers fraud, false accounting, bribery and money laundering, including offences committed by organisations.
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 Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011
Revoked on: 6 April 2011
Made: 13 December 1995
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 Order, which is made only for purposes corresponding to those of the Pensions Act 1995, amends the law relating to occupational pensions, state pensions and personal pensions.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

Restricted informationarticle 102(3)
Information: penaltiesarticle 109(1)
Information: penaltiesarticle 109(4)
Information: penaltiesarticle 109(5)
Offence in connection with the Registrar. 164A 1 Any person who knowingly or recklessly provides the…article 151(1)
Any person who knowingly or recklessly provides the Registrar with information which is false or misleading…article 164A(1)
Article 27: consequencesarticle 28(1)
Persons disqualified: consequencesarticle 30(3)
Trustees not to be indemnified for fines or civil penaltiesarticle 31(4)
Restriction on employer-related investmentsarticle 40(5)
“Blowing the whistle”article 48(12)
Other responsibilities of trustees, employers, etcarticle 49(8)

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 Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and taxOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1995