UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 17(1) of Fisheries and Aquaculture Structures (Grants) 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

1 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining financial assistance for himself or any other person—

a in furnishing any information in purported compliance with

a requirement imposed by or under regulation 4(1) or (3) or 13(5)(a) knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false or misleading in

a material respect; or

b in purported compliance with

a requirement imposed under regulation 4(3) or 13(5)(a) or (c) knowingly or recklessly produces

a document which is false or misleading in

a material respect, he 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 17(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Fisheries and Aquaculture Structures (Grants) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ 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
10 January 2002
In force from
25 February 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 supplement the Community legislation as defined and listed in regulation 2 (“the Community legislation”). The Community legislation provides, inter alia for assistance (“Community aid”) to be paid from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (“FIFG”) in respect of certain categories of investments, projects and actions (“relevant operations”) in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the industry sector processing and marketing its products. These Regulations provide for and regulate the payment of grants and Community aid by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure towards expenditure in respect of relevant operations. The grants and Community aid are payable by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the case of aquaculture investments in inland waters and by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the case of all other relevant operations approved in accordance with these Regulations and the Community legislation. The Regulations (regulations 3, 4 and 5) lay down a procedure for applications for approval of relevant operations and expenditure to be made and approved for the purpose of the payment of Community aid and, if the relevant Department so determines, grant in addition to that aid (such aid and grant being together referred to as “financial assistance”). In determining whether to pay grant in addition to Community aid and, if it determines to pay such grant, the amount thereof, the relevant Department is required to have regard to the requirements of the Community legislation (regulation 3). Among other things Community legislation requires a certain level of financial participation by Member States to enable relevant operations to qualify for Community aid, the requisite levels of participation being set out in Annex IV to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2792/1999 laying down the detailed rules and arrangements regarding Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector (O.J. No. L337, 30.12.1999, p. 10). Payment of financial assistance is dependent on the provision of satisfactory evidence of the expenditure incurred and of the proper execution of the relevant operation (regulation 6). Provision is made concerning the method of payment of financial assistance (regulation 7) and the relevant Department may require undertakings to be given by a person whose application is approved (regulation 8). Provision is made (regulation 9) for persons whose applications for financial assistance have been approved (“beneficiaries”) to supply to the relevant Department such information as it may from time to time reasonably require and (under regulation 10) for them to retain certain records for a period of six years (which period may be extended by the relevant Department). Provision is made for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to require the Sea Fish Industry Authority (the “Authority”) from time to time to exercise any of the Department’s functions under these Regulations and in relation to the keeping of accounts and records by the Authority where it has made or received payments in the exercise of any such functions (regulation 11). Applicants and beneficiaries are required, on request, to give assistance to authorised officers of the relevant Department or the Authority who are given powers of entry and inspection for specified purposes (regulations 12 to 14) and provision is made for the reduction, withholding and recovery, in certain circumstances, of financial assistance (regulations 15 and 16). The Regulations (regulations 17 and 18) create and make provision in connection with the prosecution of offences in respect of false statements made to obtain financial assistance, in respect of failure to keep records or provide information reasonably requested by the relevant Department, in respect of the failure to comply with requests made by authorised officers in exercise of their powers of entry and inspection and in respect of the obstruction of such officers in the exercise of those powers. Penalties are prescribed for such offences (regulation 17). A copy of the Northern Ireland Programme for Building Sustainable Prosperity together with Commission Decision No. C (2001) 637 approving it is available for inspection at Fisheries Division, Annex 5, Castle Grounds, Stormont Estate, Belfast BT4 3PW.

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