UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 34(3) of The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (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

3 A person who—

a furnishes

a certificate of compliance under regulation

23 and either—

i knows the information provided in or in connection with the certificate to be false or misleading in

a material particular, or

ii furnishes such information recklessly and it is false or misleading in

a material particular;

b fails without reasonable excuse to furnish any information required by the Director in accordance with regulation 31(12); or

c furnishes any information to the Department in connection with its functions under these regulations, or to the Secretary of State or to the Director in connection with the functions of either of them under Part VIII, and either—

i knows the information to be false or misleading in

a material particular, or

ii furnishes such information recklessly and it is false or misleading in

a material particular, is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

it is false or misleading in a material particular; b fails without reasonable excuse to furnish any information required by the Director in accordance with regulation 31(12); or c furnishes any information to the Department in connection with its functions under these regulations, or to the Secretary of State or to the Director in connection

What would breach regulation 34(3)?

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 Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.
  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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
12 March 1999
In force from
1 June 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 impose on producers obligations to recover and recycle packaging waste, and related obligations, in order to attain the targets in Article 6(1) of Directive 94/62/EC. A producer (defined in regulation 3) who in a year (“a relevant year”) has a specified level of turnover (set out in Schedule 1) and handles (as defined in Schedule 1) packaging or packaging materials (defined in regulation 2) weighing more than 50 tonnes has an obligation in the following year to recover and to recycle packaging waste, as set out in Schedule 2, (“the individual route”). These obligations will apply from the year 1999, except in relation to wholesalers to whom they will only apply from the year 2000. Certain categories of producer are excluded by regulation 4. In particular, a producer who joins a scheme which undertakes to meet the recovery and recycling targets of all its members is not required to comply with its obligations. In such cases the obligations are performed through the scheme. There are special provisions for groups of companies (regulation 29 and Schedule 9) and special producers (regulation 4 and Schedule 3 Parts III to V). “Packaging”, “packaging waste”, “recovery”, “recycling” and “reuse” are defined as in Directive 94/62/EC. Under regulation 5 producers who are not members of registered schemes need to be registered with the Department. The producer applies in accordance with regulation 6 and must supply, in particular, the information set out in Parts I and II of Schedule 4. The Department will normally require the applicant to undertake to inform the Department of material changes and to give the other undertakings mentioned in regulation 7. An applicant who complies with the relevant requirements (regulation 6(5)) will be registered. Registration will continue unless and until cancelled, but is subject to an updating of information before 1st April each year (regulation 8). There is provision for cancellation of registration where, for example, a producer fails to provide information (regulation 11(1)) or joins a registered scheme (regulation 11(2)). There are similar registration requirements for schemes in regulations 12 to 17. To be registered a scheme must satisfy the requirements of competition scrutiny in regulation 31 (regulation 12(4)). Registered producers, and operators of schemes, are required to maintain records and furnish returns to the Department (regulations 22 and 24). Registered producers are also to provide certificates of compliance with their recovery and recycling obligations (regulation 23). Regulations 25 and 26 set out the duties of the Department to monitor compliance and in relation to a public register. Regulations 27 and 28 and Schedule 8 concern the powers of the Department to approve persons to issue certificates of compliance and of entry and inspection. Regulations 32 and 33 exclude and modify the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 respectively. Under regulation 34 it is an offence to contravene the producer responsibility obligations to register, recover and recycle packaging waste, and furnish a certificate of compliance to the Department, or to provide false or misleading information, or to prevent the Department from exercising its powers of entry and inspection, or to fail to furnish information in connection with competition scrutiny.

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