7 Any person who in purporting to carry out a requirement under Article 15(12) or for the purpose of…

Q: Is article 18(7) of The Safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 a strict liability offence?

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

article 18(7) of The Safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

Status not determined
Requires proof of a state of mind
Either way
Miscellaneous

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

7 Any person who in purporting to carry out a requirement under Article 15(12) or for the purpose of procuring a safety certificate or the cancellation, amendment, replacement or transfer of a safety certificate knowingly or recklessly— a makes a false statement; or b produces, furnishes, signs or otherwise makes use of a document containing a false statement, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: making a false or misleading statement
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 (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach article 18(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.

Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.
Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

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

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: Status not determined
Made: 14 February 2006
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 makes provision for safety at sports grounds. Part II provides for the issue of safety certificates in respect of designated sports grounds. Part III provides for the issue of safety certificates in respect of certain stands at other sports grounds.

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.

Private Security Industry Act 2001 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2009 Lords · 2 November 2009 · Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I beg to move that the draft Private Security Industry Act 2001 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2009, which was laid before this House on 21 May 2009, be considered. I shall also speak to the draft Private Security Industry Act 2001 (Amendments to Schedule 2) Order 2009, a copy of which was laid before this House on 12 October 2009. I welcome this opportunity to put these proposals before the…

Other offences in the same instrument

Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5) if— a spectators are admitted to a designated sports ground after the date…article 11(1)
Any person who— a without reasonable excuse, refuses, neglects or otherwise fails to comply with a…article 11(6)
b in purporting to carry out such a requirement, or a requirement under Article 6(4), or for the purpose of…article 11(6)(b)
Subject to paragraphs (4) to (6), if— a spectators are admitted to a regulated stand at a sports ground on…article 18(1)
Power to make regulationsarticle 19(4)(a)
Alterations and extensionsarticle 20(4)
Powers of entry and inspectionarticle 23(3)

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 Safety of Sports Grounds (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2006