UK Offence Report

Effect of failure to comply with conditions governing use of Community licence

regulation 6 of Road Service Licensing (Community Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (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

6 A person who uses

a vehicle in Northern Ireland under

a Community licence and, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of that licence under the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

vehicle in Northern Ireland under a Community licence and, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of that licence under the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 6?

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 uses a vehicle in Northern Ireland under a Community licence.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Road Service Licensing (Community Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
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
19 March 2002
In force from
1 May 2002
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 give effect in Northern Ireland to Article 3a of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 684/92 of 16th March 1992 (“the Council Regulation”) on common rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 11/98 of 11th December 1997. The Council Regulation establishes a Community-wide licence allowing carriers operating public service vehicles access to the market for the international carriage of passengers by road. The Council Regulation, which has direct effect in Member States, prohibits the carriage of passengers in public service vehicles between Member States without a Community licence (Article 3a(1)). These Regulations enforce the prohibition by imposing a penalty for breach (regulation 2) and designating the Department of the Environment (“the Department”) as the competent authority for the purposes of the Council Regulation (regulation 3). The Council Regulation lays down the conditions for the issue and use of such licences. Each Member State is to issue a Community licence to any carrier established in that State who is entitled to carry out international passenger transport operations. In Northern Ireland such entitlement is signified by the issue under section 4 of the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 of a road service licence covering both national and international transport operations. The Regulations accordingly confer entitlement to a Community licence on the basis of the Northern Ireland licence (regulation 4). The form of the Community licence is prescribed in the Council Regulation (Article 3a(1)) and the Annex), as is the period of validity (Article 3a(4)) and the grounds for refusal or withdrawal of the licence (Article 3a(7) and condition 5 of the model licence set out in the Annex). The holder of a licence must keep the original, and a certified copy must be kept in each public service vehicle carrying out an international transport operation (Article 3a(2) and condition 6 of the model licence). The original licence or a certified true copy must be produced to an authorised inspecting officer on demand (Article 3a(3) and condition 7 of the model licence). Regulation 7 designates authorised officers for this purpose. Regulation 6 makes it an offence to fail to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of the licence. The Regulations implement Article 3a(8) of the Council Regulation by conferring a right of appeal against refusal or withdrawal of the licence (regulation 5). They also require a holder to return the Community licence and all certified true copies if it is withdrawn, and to return certified true copies if they are withdrawn (regulation 8). Regulation 9 provides for the holder to supply information to the Department, and makes it an offence to fail to comply without reasonable excuse. Provision is made for the automatic transfer of a Community licence in certain circumstances following the death, bankruptcy or incapacity of the holder (regulation 10). Regulation 11 amends the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, so that an authorised inspecting officer may— a require the production of a certified copy of a Community licence, which must be kept on board certain passenger vehicles; b restrict or prohibit the driving of a vehicle on the road without a Community licence or in contravention of any of the conditions governing the use of that licence. Copies of the Council Regulations referred to in these Regulations can be obtained from The Stationery Office Bookshop, 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