Offences relating to the provision of information to auditors

Q: Is article 397B(4) of The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (revoked) 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 company meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

article 397B(4) of The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (revoked)

Status not determined
Strict liability
Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax

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

4 If a company fails to comply with Article 397A(5), the company and every officer of it who is in default is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 company
Conduct: failing to do something the instrument requires
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 company 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 397B(4)?

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.

Not doing what the provision requires under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, 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: Not determined
Maximum fine: Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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.
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: Status not determined
Made: 19 July 2005
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 Order amends the law relating to company auditors and accounts, to the provision that may be made in respect of certain liabilities incurred by a company’s directors, and to company investigations. It also makes provision for community interest companies.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

SCHEDULE 8SCHEDULE 8
Offences relating to the provision of information to auditors 397B 1 If a person knowingly or recklessly…article 10
Statement as to disclosure of information to auditorsarticle 242ZA(6)
Restrictions on further disclosure of information obtained under Article 253Farticle 253G(7)
Restrictions on further disclosure of information obtained under Article 253Farticle 253G(7)(a)
Restrictions on further disclosure of information obtained under Article 253Farticle 253G(7)(b)
If a person knowingly or recklessly makes to an auditor of a company a statement (oral or written) that— a…article 397B(1)
A person who fails to comply with a requirement under Article 397A(1)(b) without delay is guilty of an…article 397B(2)
Appointment of directorarticle 43(11)
Power to enter and remain on premisesarticle 446A(5)
Power to enter and remain on premisesarticle 446A(5)(b)
Propertyarticle 46(10)

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 Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (revoked) 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 2005