What would breach article 52(3) of The Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996?

On these words an offence is committed where a person executed them. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, whatever the reason for doing it. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Prohibition of use of length of pipe-line not complying with requirements imposed under Article 50

Q: Is article 52(3) of The Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 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 52(3) of The Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

Revoked
Strict liability
Either way
Energy, communications, water and utilities

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 In the event of
a contravention of paragraph (1) in relation to any works, the person who executed them shall be guilty of an offence, and, in the event of
a contravention of paragraph (2) in relation to
a length of
a pipe-line, the owner of the line comprising the length 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 52(3)?

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 executed them.
Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

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

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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.

Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
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 Gas and Electricity (Internal Markets) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013
Revoked on: 12 April 2013
Made: 14 February 1996
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 provides for the regulation of the supply of gas through pipes.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

SCHEDULE 3SCHEDULE 3
SCHEDULE 3SCHEDULE 3
SCHEDULE 3SCHEDULE 3
SCHEDULE 4SCHEDULE 4
SCHEDULE 5SCHEDULE 5
Meter testing and stampingarticle 22(10)
Power to require information, etcarticle 30(4)
Power to require information, etcarticle 30(5)
Consent of Director for construction of major pipe-linearticle 35(1)
Consent of Director for construction of gas storage facilityarticle 37(1)
General restrictions on disclosure of informationarticle 44(7)
Making of false statements, etcarticle 46(1)

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 0.96.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.96 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 Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Energy, communications, water and utilitiesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1996