UK Offence Report

New regulation 19A (certificates of temporary exemption)

regulation 2 of Motor Vehicle Testing (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

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

2 After regulation

19 of the principal Regulations there shall be inserted the following regulation – Certificates of temporary exemption 19A

1 The Department may issue in respect of

a vehicle

a certificate of temporary exemption, by virtue of which that vehicle shall not, during the period specified in the certificate be subject to the provisions of Article 63(1) of the 1995 Order, where it is satisfied that –

a by reason of exceptional circumstances, as defined in paragraph (3), affecting either

a vehicle testing centre or the vehicle, an examination cannot be completed by

a date fixed under these Regulations for carrying out the examination; and

b the use of the vehicle on or after that date would constitute an offence under Article 63(1) of the 1995 Order.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 2?

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 Motor Vehicle Testing (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to Article 63(1) of the 1995 Order.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

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
4 August 2004
In force from
9 August 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 amend the Motor Vehicle Testing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 by:– 1 Inserting a new regulation 19A (certificates of temporary exemption) which – i empowers the Department of the Environment to issue a certificate of temporary exemption from Article 63(1) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995; and ii prescribes the content of that certificate (regulation 2). 2 Amending regulation 20 (production of certificate on application for licence) so that production of an effective certificate of temporary exemption may satisfy one of the conditions for the grant of a vehicle excise licence under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (regulation 3).

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 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 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