UK Offence Report

4 A training employer commits an offence if he fails to comply with paragraph (1), (2) or (3).

regulation 7(4) of The Ozone Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

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

4 A training employer commits an offence if he fails to comply with paragraph (1), (2) or (3).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an training employer
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 an training employer 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 7(4)?

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 an training employer fails to comply with paragraph (1), (2) or (3).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Ozone Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
28 July 2006
In force from
31 August 2006
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 give effect to the provisions in Articles 16.5, 17.1 (first paragraph) and 17.2 of Regulation (EC) No. 2037/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council on substances that deplete the ozone layer (as amended by Regulation (EC) 2038/2000, 2039/2000, 1804/2003 and 2077/2004 and Council Decisions 2003/160/EC, 2004/232/EC and 2005/625/EC). They relate to minimum qualifications for those working on the recovery, recycling, reclamation or destruction of controlled substances and the prevention and minimising of leakages of controlled substances. The terms “controlled substances”, “recovery”, “recycling” and “reclamation” are defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 2037/2000. Under regulation 5, it is an offence for a person to carry out relevant work involving controlled substances or work with methyl bromide unless he is competent to do so. The terms “competent” and “relevant work” are defined in regulations 3 and 4 respectively. The term “work with methyl bromide” is defined in regulation 2. Details of the qualifications which a person needs in order to carry out certain types of relevant work, are contained in the Table in Schedule 1 Regulation 5 also contains provisions making it an offence for an employer to employ a person to carry out relevant work or work with methyl bromide unless that person is competent to do so. Transitional provisions are contained in regulation 6 and provisions about training are contained in regulation 7. Provisions setting out the powers of authorised persons are contained in regulation 8. Regulations 9 to 11 contain provisions relating to offences and penalties. A full regulatory impact assessment in respect of these Regulations may be obtained from the Department of the Environment, River House, 48 High Street, Belfast BT1 2AW.

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