UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 12(2) of The Environmental Protection (Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and other Dangerous Substances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

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 A person— a who holds PCBs or equipment in contravention of paragraph (1) of regulation 4; b who, being the holder of PCBs or equipment to which sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (2) of regulation 4 applies, fails to dispose of them in accordance with that sub-paragraph; or c who, being the holder of equipment, fails to decontaminate or dispose of that equipment— i in a case to which paragraph (3) of regulation 4 applies, as soon as possible after the end of its useful life; ii in a case to which paragraph (5) of regulation 4 applies, in accordance with paragraph (7) of that regulation; iii in a case to which paragraph (8) of regulation 4 applies, as soon as possible after the end of the useful life of the other piece of equipment of which it is part, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 12(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Environmental Protection (Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and other Dangerous Substances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
14 July 2000
In force from
Not determined
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 relate to Council Directive 96/59/EC (“the Directive”) on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls (“PCBs”). They are for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Directive which require decontamination or disposal of PCBs and equipment containing them and the associated provisions for inventories, labelling and monitoring. They are additional to the existing relevant requirements of the waste management licensing regime under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. Subject to exceptions, in particular for businesses concerned with the decontamination and disposal of PCBs, regulation 3 prohibits the holding of certain equipment contaminated by PCBs (“contaminated equipment”) by anyone other than a person registered with the Department of the Environment (“the Department”) under these Regulations. The prohibition applies after 31st October 2000. Subject to exceptions, in particular for businesses concerned with decontamination and disposal of PCBs, for transformers and for certain other equipment being replaced under major replacement programmes, regulation 4(1) prohibits the holding of PCBs and equipment (whether or not within the definition of “contaminated equipment” in regulation 2). This provision applies even though a person is registered with the Department, but only applies after 31st March 2001. Contaminated equipment is to be labelled as such (regulation 5) and, when decontaminated, within specified limits, is to be re-labelled in the form set out in Schedule 2 to the Regulations (regulation 4(4)(d)). Regulation 6 provides for the procedure for registration. Applicants for registration are required to specify, amongst other things, the date by which they expect to have decontaminated or disposed of the equipment concerned. Regulation 7 provides for cancellation of the registration and regulation 8 for appeals against the non-determination of an application for registration or the cancellation of a registration. Registered holders are required to provide information to the Department on a regular basis (regulation 10). Regulations 9, 10(3) and 11 set out the duties of the Department to monitor the information supplied, to prepare an inventory and to review it at regular intervals, to provide an annual statement of the number of registered holders and items of equipment of which particulars are registered, and in relation to public registers. The preparation of inventories by the Department is to facilitate the discharge of the obligation imposed by Article 4.1 of the Directive to send to the Commission a summary of the inventories of equipment with PCB volumes of more than 5dm3. The Department also obtains other relevant information through the system of consignment notes under the Special Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998. Regulation 12 creates criminal offences. Regulation 13 revokes the Marketing and Use of Dangerous Substances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994. These are superseded, in particular, by regulation 4 of these Regulations. Schedule 1 to the Regulations records the disposal operations D8 to D10, D12 and D15 set out in Annex IIA of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, as replaced by Council Decision 96/350. These are the only permitted methods of disposal of PCBs and equipment contaminated by PCBs under the Directive. Schedule 2 sets out the Directive’s requirements for the labelling of decontaminated equipment. Schedule 3 sets out the fees for registering equipment under regulation 6 or renewing registration under regulation 10(1) and for an application for a direction from the Department to add specified equipment in accordance with regulation 4(5), (6) and (7). Copies of Council Directives 96/59/EC and 75/442/EEC may be obtained from the Stationery Office, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.

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