UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 11(1) of Countryside Access Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

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

1 A person who, for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person any aid under regulation 7, knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false or misleading in

a material particular, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 11(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.

  1. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Countryside Access Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ 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.

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
23 May 1996
In force from
1 July 1996
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 Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision for the payment of aid to farmers who agree to provide access to the public through their farmland or farm lanes, pursuant to Article 2(1)(g) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (O.J. No. L215, 30.7.92, p. 85) (“the Council Regulation”). Such aid is part of the zonal programme relating to Northern Ireland submitted by the United Kingdom to the European Commission pursuant to Article 3 of the Council Regulation. The European Commission in accordance with Article 7 of the Council Regulation approved this part of the programme in Commission Decision No. [C] (95) 1678 of 17th August 1995, a copy of which is available from the Department of Agriculture, Room 657, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB. These Regulations— a enable the Department to make payments of aid to eligible persons who give undertakings to provide a public access route and observe certain management requirements (regulation 3 and the Schedule); b specify the requirements in relation to applications for aid and the documents to accompany such applications (regulation 4); c specify restrictions on the acceptance of applications by the Department (regulation 5); d make provision for the payment of aid to a new occupant where there has been a change in the occupation of farmland or a farm lane whether due to the death of a beneficiary or otherwise (regulation 6); e specify the amount of aid payable and make provision in relation to claims for payment (regulations 7 and 8); f confer on authorised persons powers of entry to carry out certain inspections for the purposes of the Regulations and require that reasonable assistance be given to such persons to enable them to exercise their functions (regulation 9); g specify circumstances when the Department may withhold aid or recover payments of aid already made (regulation 10); and h create offences in relation to the making of false or misleading statements and prescribe penalties (regulation 11).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.92.

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