UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 7 of Rural Regeneration and Cross-Border Development 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

7 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person any payment or grant, knowingly or recklessly makes

a false statement, he shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 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.

  1. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Rural Regeneration and Cross-Border Development 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
24 September 1996
In force from
24 October 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.

Under Article 5(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 (O.J. No. L185, 15.7.88, p. 9) assistance from the Structural Funds may take the form of part-financing of operational programmes and operations may be undertaken on the Commission’s initiative. On 16th May 1995 the European Commission decided to establish a Community initiative in the framework of the special support programme for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, within the meaning of Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88 (O.J. No. L374, 31.12.88, p. 1) as amended by Regulation (EEC) No. 2082/93 (O.J. No. L193, 31.7.93, p. 20) and Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No. 4254/88 (O.J. No. L374, 31.12.1988, p. 15) as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2083/93 (O.J. No. L193, 31.7.1993, p. 34). The Commission, in its Notice 95/C186/04 (O.J. No. C186/4, 20.7.95, p. 4) laid down the guidelines for the special support programme. These guidelines provided that a single operational programme should be prepared by the Governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This single operational programme was submitted to the Commission on 9th June 1995 and adopted by Commission Decision C(95) 1789 of 28th July 1995. Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88 as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2082/93 and Council Regulation (EC) No. 3193/94 (O.J. No. L337, 24.12.1994, p. 11) lays down provision for implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 as regards co-ordination of activities of the different Structural Funds between themselves and with the operation of the European Investment Bank and the other existing financial instruments. Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4256/88 (O.J. No. L374, 31.12.88, p. 25) lays down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 as regards the EAGGF Guidance Section. The present Regulations make provision for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88 and Regulation (EEC) No. 4256/88 in Northern Ireland insofar as Sub-Programme 2(B) relating to rural regeneration and Measure 3 of Sub-Programme 3 relating to cross-border development of the Single Programming Document is concerned. They allow the Department of Agriculture to formulate conditions for making payments and paying grants and to attach conditions for the payment of grant and making of payments, provide for the form and manner in which claims for grant and payments will be made and allow the Department of Agriculture to require the furnishing of particulars and information relating to claims. The Regulations provide for standard costs, give the Department of Agriculture the power to recover payments in certain circumstances and create an offence, punishable on summary conviction with a fine at level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000), of providing or recklessly making a false statement to obtain grant or payment. The Regulations also confer powers of entry and inspection on authorised persons and provide that an authorised person may take with him such other persons as he considers necessary. Extracts of the relevant section of Sub-Programmes 2(B) and Measure 3 of Sub-Programme 3 of the Single Programming Document and explanatory leaflets on those Sub-Programmes can be obtained on application from the Department of Agriculture at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB. A copy of Commission Decision C(95) 1789 approving the Single Programming Document may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture at the above address.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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