UK Offence Report

Case management

paragraph 4(6) of SCHEDULE 1 of Fair Employment Tribunal (Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (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 Every document containing

a requirement imposed under paragraph (5) shall contain

a reference to the fact that, under Article 84(9) and (10) of the Order of 1998, any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any such requirement shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine and, if without reasonable excuse the failure continues after conviction, shall be liable on

a second or subsequent summary conviction to

a fine for each day on which the failure continues and the document shall also state the amounts of the current maximum fines.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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

Article 84(9) and (10) of the Order of 1998, any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any such requirement shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine and, if without reasonable excuse the failure continues after conviction, shall be liable on a second or subsequent summary conviction to a fine for each day on which th

What would breach paragraph 4(6) of SCHEDULE 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. On these words an offence is committed where a person without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any such requirement.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Fair Employment Tribunal (Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
2 April 2004
In force from
4 April 2004
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 revoke and replace the Fair Employment Tribunal Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989, the Fair Employment Tribunal (Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989, and subsequent amending Regulations prescribing Rules of Procedure for the Fair Employment Tribunal in Northern Ireland. In addition to minor and drafting amendments, re-numbering and the updating of statutory and other references, these Regulations make the following changes of substance. Regulation 2 contains new provisions in paragraphs (5) to (8) setting out how time limits in the Regulations and in documents issued under them are to be calculated. Examples are given for interpretation of the general rules. Regulations 3 and 4 make provision in relation to the establishment and composition of the Fair Employment Tribunal. Regulation 5 specifies circumstances in which the Schedules to these Regulations may be applied. Regulation 6 specifies an overriding objective to enable tribunals to deal with cases justly. Regulation 9 contains a transitional provision stating that the new regulations apply in respect of all cases, irrespective of when they were commenced. Regulation 10 revokes the Regulations listed in Schedule 4. Schedule 1 contains rules of procedure which apply to complaints of unlawful discrimination under Article 38 of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (“the Order”). Rules 1 and 3 provide that more than one originating application or notice of appearance may be presented in a single document. Rule 4 concerns the management of cases and includes provision at paragraph (2) that directions may relate in particular to evidence, including witness statements. Failure to comply with a direction may lead to the penalties specified in paragraph (8). Rule 7 is new and allows the tribunal to require a deposit of up to £500 following a pre-hearing review. Rule 12(1) of Schedule 1 (costs) is amended to provide that certain specified conduct by a party’s representative may be taken into account when awarding costs against that party. The tribunal is also now under a duty to consider an award of costs in the circumstances described in rule 12(1), and these include circumstances where proceedings which have no reasonable prospect of success have been pursued. In rule 12(3), the maximum amount of costs which a tribunal may award without an assessment of costs is set at £10,000. Rule 12(6) now enables the tribunal to have regard, in awarding costs, to those who proceed unreasonably with a case after being required to pay a deposit following a pre-hearing review. In rule 13(2) of Schedule 1 (miscellaneous powers), in sub-paragraphs (c) and (d) respectively, the term “frivolous” has been replaced with “misconceived” (defined in regulation 2(2)) and “unreasonable”. Those paragraphs permit the tribunal to strike out applications or notices of appearance in certain circumstances. Rule 15 is new and provides for the Secretary of the Office of the Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal to give notice to certain persons, including the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, in any proceedings in which a devolution issue arises. Rule 20 (Notices, etc.) provides for the service of notices. Schedule 2 contains rules of procedure which apply to appeals against directions given by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (“the Commission”) and to appeals against a refusal by the Commission to cancel a notice of non-qualification for public contracts or financial assistance from a Northern Ireland department. Schedule 3 contains rules of procedure which apply to proceedings on applications by the Commission under Article 16(1) of the Order for enforcement of undertakings or directions given under that Order, the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 or the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976. Schedule 3 also applies to proceedings before the Tribunal to enforce, revoke or vary an order of the Tribunal made on an application under section 16(1) of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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