UK Offence Report

Penalties for non-compliance with enforcement notices

regulation 17(2) of Environmental Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 (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

2 Any person on whom an enforcement notice has been served in accordance with regulation

15 who fails, within the period specified in the enforcement notice, to carry out any measure, other than discontinuance of the relevant project, required by the enforcement notice 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 17(2)?

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 an offence is committed where a person fails, within the period specified in the enforcement notice, to carry out any measure, other than discontinuance of the relevant project, required by the enforcement notice.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Environmental Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown 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
8 December 1998
In force from
1 February 1999
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 supersede the Environmental Assessment (Afforestation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 which are revoked (regulation 19(1)). The Regulations provide for further implementation of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (O.J. No. L175, 5.7.85, p. 40) in relation to specified projects relating to forestry. These are defined as “relevant projects” in regulation 2(1). The definition includes a limitation to projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment. The Regulations require that consent shall be obtained from the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (“the Department”) for relevant projects (regulation 3). A person who proposes to carry out a project may apply to the Department in accordance with regulation 4 for its opinion whether the consent is required. Regulation 5 provides for the Department to give notice of its opinion to the person who proposed the project and makes provision for it to give an opinion of its own motion. If the Department’s opinion is that consent is required, the person who proposed the project may request the Department to reconsider its opinion (regulation 6). Applications for consent are to be made to the Department under, and must be accompanied by the documents specified, in regulation 7. These documents include an environmental statement conforming to the requirements in the Schedule. The Regulations provide for the Department to seek further information from the applicant (regulation 8) and for publicity for applications and for representations to be made to the Department by interested persons (regulation 9). Regulation 10 provides for information to be provided to other Member States of the European Community. Regulation 11 deals with the determination of applications by the Department, including matters they are to take into consideration. The Department must give notice of its decision to the applicant and publicise it in accordance with regulation 12. The applicant can ask the Department to reconsider its decision (regulation 13). Regulation 14 specifies conditions as to time which must be included in every consent. Where work in relation to a relevant project is or has been carried out without consent or in breach of a condition of consent, the Department may issue an enforcement notice (regulation 15). The Department may be requested to reconsider its decision to issue an enforcement notice under regulation 16. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice constitutes an offence (regulation 17). The Regulations provide for powers of entry and for a person authorised by the Department to carry out works where an enforcement notice is not complied with (regulation 18). There are transitional provisions in regulation 19.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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