UK Offence Report

12 A person who contravenes regulation 3(1), 3(2), 4(1), 5(1), 7(3) or 11 shall be guilty of an offence and…

regulation 12 of The Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

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

12 A person who contravenes regulation 3(1), 3(2), 4(1), 5(1), 7(3) or

11 shall be guilty of an offence and liable –

a on summary conviction, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months or to

a fine not exceeding £20,000 or to both;

b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years or to

a fine or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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?

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 contravenes regulation 3(1), 3(2), 4(1), 5(1), 7(3) or 11.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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
£20,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
30 June 2003
In force from
21 July 2003
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 require persons with custody or control of a crop being made into silage, livestock slurry or certain fuel oil to carry out works and take precautions or other steps for preventing pollution of waterways for the purposes of Part II of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999. The Regulations provide exemptions from their requirements and for loss of exemptions in certain circumstances. They also confer a right of appeal to the Water Appeals Commission for Northern Ireland and provide that contravention of certain regulations is a criminal offence. The Regulations have been notified to the European Commission and the other Member States in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No. L204, 21.7.98, p. 37) as amended by Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No. L217, 5.8.98, p. 18). Copies of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Prevention of Pollution of Water, referred to in the Regulations, may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development by the following means: By post from: Countryside Management Division, DARD, Annexe D, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, BELFAST BT4 3SB Website: www.dardni.gov.uk Copies of the documents published by the British Standards Institute, referred to in the Regulations, may be obtained on request from any of the sales outlets of the British Standards Institute by the following means: By post from: Customer Services, British Standards Institute, 389 Chiswick High Road, LONDON W4 4AL By telephone: 020 8996 9000 / Fax: 020 8996 7001 By Email: info@bsi-global.com Website: www.bsi-global.com – please note that copies of the documents are not available from this Website.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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