UK Offence Report

Power to obtain information about potentially hazardous substances

article 33(3) of The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997

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

3 Regulations under this Article may—

a prescribe the descriptions of relevant information which are to be furnished under this Article in relation to specified substances;

b impose requirements on manufacturers or suppliers generally to furnish information prescribed under sub-paragraph (a);

c provide for the imposition of requirements on manufacturers or suppliers generally to furnish relevant information relating to products or articles containing specified substances in relation to which information has been furnished in pursuance of sub-paragraph (b);

d provide for the imposition of requirements on particular manufacturers or suppliers to furnish further information relating to specified substances in relation to which information has been furnished in pursuance of sub-paragraph (b);

e provide for the imposition of requirements on particular manufacturers to carry out tests of specified substances and to furnish information of the results of the tests;

f authorise persons to comply with requirements to furnish information imposed on them under the regulations by means of representative persons or bodies;

g impose restrictions on the disclosure of information obtained under this Article and provide for determining what information is, and what information is not, to be treated as furnished in confidence;

h create offences, subject to the limitation that no offence shall be punishable with imprisonment or punishable on summary conviction with

a fine exceeding level

5 on the standard scale;

i make any district council or other body designated by the regulations responsible for the enforcement of the regulations to such extent as may be specified in the regulations;

j include such other incidental and supplemental, and such transitional, provisions as the Department considers appropriate.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach article 33(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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
26 November 1997
In force from
Not determined
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— a re-enacts the provisions of Part II of the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 relating to waste on land with modifications as respects the functions of the Department of the Environment and district councils concerned in the collection and disposal of waste and makes further provision in relation to such waste; b makes provision with respect to land contaminated by pollution; c makes provision for the control of the use, supply or storage of prescribed substances and articles; and d confers powers to obtain information about potentially hazardous substances.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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