UK Offence Report

1 It shall be an offence to fail to comply with regulations 2(1), 3, 4 or 5 of these Regulations.

regulation 8(1) of Phosphorus (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (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

1 It shall be an offence to fail to comply with regulations 2(1), 3, 4 or 5 of these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (knowingly) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses knowingly; which element that governs was not determined.

What would breach regulation 8(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Phosphorus (Use in Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
1 December 2006
In force from
1 January 2007
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 aim to prevent water pollution by limiting the amount of phosphorus applied to land. Regulation 2 restricts the amount of chemical fertiliser applied to land to the crop requirement whilst taking into consideration the phosphorous already available from the soil and organic manures. These variables are to be calculated in accordance with the Schedules to these Regulations and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. Regulation 3 imposes a duty on the controller of a holding to prevent water pollution. Regulation 4 prohibits the land application of chemical fertiliser in situations where there will be run off of water and pollution is likely to occur. This regulation also prescribes the manner in which chemical fertiliser shall be applied to land and prohibits its application within 1.5m of a waterway. Regulation 5 imposes an obligation on the owner and/or controller of a holding when applying these Regulations to follow guidance issued for the purpose of these Regulations by the Department of the Environment and/or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Code of Good Agricultural Practice issued by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Regulation 6 imposes an obligation on the controller of a holding to keep detailed records sufficient to ascertain who the controller of the holding was for the calendar year, the total agricultural area of the holding, the crop regime for individual areas within the holding, the number of livestock on the holding, the livestock manure storage capacity and storage arrangements of the holding and the quantity of nitrogen fertiliser moved on and off the holding. These records must be ready for inspection, held for 5 years, be accurate and not misleading. Regulation 7 prescribes monitoring and inspection functions under these Regulations. Regulations 8 and 9 set out the offences under these Regulations and their corresponding penalties. Copies of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Prevention of Pollution of Water, Air and Soil, referred to in regulation 5, may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s website athttp://www.dardni.gov.uk. Copies of the Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (RB209) may be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website: http://www.defra.gov.uk Copies of Council Directive 91/676/EEC may be obtained from the 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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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