UK Offence Report

31 On or after the commencement date, a person who places, or causes or permits another person to place, on…

SCHEDULE of The Environmental Protection (Controls on Ozone-Depleting Substances) 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

31 On or after the commencement date,

a person who places, or causes or permits another person to place, on the market any product or equipment containing hydrochlorofluorocarbons the use of which is, and was when it was manufactured, prohibited by virtue of Article 5, commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 SCHEDULE?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Environmental Protection (Controls on Ozone-Depleting Substances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
25 February 2003
In force from
28 March 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 make provision in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2037/2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer, as amended by Council Regulations (EC) Nos. 2038/2000 and 2039/2000, (referred to in these Regulations and the following paragraphs of this note as “the principal Regulation”). The principal Regulation provides for a system that controls – a the production, placing on the market and use of, b trade in, and c emission of certain substances (“controlled substances”) that deplete the ozone layer. Member States are required to deal with a number of matters by means of their domestic legislation. With the exception of regulation 5, these Regulations fulfil this requirement. In particular, they – i designate the Department as the competent authority for the purposes of the principal Regulation that refer to the competent authority of a Member State (regulation 3); ii require persons having control of the controlled substances mentioned in Articles 16 and 17 of the principal Regulation to comply with those provisions (regulation 4), iii contain enforcement powers (regulation 6), and iv set out offences and penalties in relation to failures to comply with the principal Regulation or these Regulations (regulations 7 to 9 and the Schedule). Parts I, II and III of the Schedule give effect to Article 21 of the principal Regulation in relation to breaches of Articles 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Part IV of the Schedule gives effect to Article 21 in relation to breaches of so much of Article 22 as relates to the production, placing on the market and use of new substances. Contraventions of the prohibitions imposed by Article 11 (export of controlled substances or products containing controlled substances) are enforceable under section 68 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. Regulation 5 enables customs officers to require proof of lawful export, and to detain controlled substances, products and equipment until such proof has been furnished. In the absence of such proof, the substance, product or equipment is liable to forfeiture. Copies of the EC Regulation and extracts from the Official Journal may be obtained from Her Majesty’s 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 “commits 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