UK Offence Report

Registration in connection with exempt activities

regulation 3(1) of The Waste Collection and Disposal (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (revoked)

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 It shall be an offence for an establishment or undertaking to carry on an exempt activity without being registered with the appropriate district council.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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.

What would breach regulation 3(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. On these words it is an offence to carry on an exempt activity without being registered with the appropriate district council.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Waste Collection and Disposal (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
Standard scale
Level 1
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
7 February 1997
In force from
14 March 1997
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.

Regulation 2 of these Regulations amends Schedule 6 to the Waste Collection and Disposal Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 by providing that a disposal licence under the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 is not required where waste mammalian protein is deposited in accordance with the new paragraph 16A or plant or equivalent is used for dealing with waste mammalian protein in accordance with the new paragraph 23. Regulation 3 gives effect to Article 11(1)(b) — first indent of Council Directive (91/156/EEC) (O.J. No. L78/32, 26.3.91) (amending Directive 75/442/EEC on waste) by providing for exemptions of establishments or undertakings from the requirements of the Directive if registered with the appropriate district council. The appropriate district council is the competent authority for the purpose of Article 11 of the Directive. Copies of associated legislation and this Amendment are obtainable from the Stationery Office, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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