UK Offence Report

General power to manage proceedings

article 9(6) of The Valuation Tribunal Rules (Northern Ireland) 2007

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 An interim order containing

a requirement described in paragraph (1)(c) shall state that, under paragraph 11(2) of Schedule 9B to the 1977 Order, any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with the requirement shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

1 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

raph 11(2) of Schedule 9B to the 1977 Order, any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with the requirement shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.

What would breach article 9(6)?

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 the requirement.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Valuation Tribunal Rules (Northern Ireland) 2007 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
£200
Standard scale
Level 1
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
18 March 2007
In force from
16 April 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 Rules) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules regulate the exercise of rights of appeal to the Northern Ireland Valuation Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) and prescribe the practice and procedure in relation to proceedings before the Tribunal. The Rules regulate appeals under the following provisions of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 (S.I. 1977/2157 (N.I. 28)): Article 13(3) which enables a person to appeal against a determination of the Department of Finance and Personnel (“the Department”) as to the effective date of an alteration made in a valuation list; Article 54 which enables a person to appeal against a valuation decision of the Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland; and Article 31A(12B) which enables a person to appeal to the Tribunal against the result of a review by the Department of a decision that a person is not entitled to a rate rebate for a property with a special facility for a person with a disability. By virtue of the Rates (Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (S.R. 2007 No. 150) the Northern Ireland Valuation Tribunal has jurisdiction in relation to appeals under Articles 13(3) and 54 of the 1977 Order relating to— a domestic property; and b the non-domestic element of property used both for domestic and non-domestic purposes where— i the net annual value of the non-domestic element of the property does not exceed £12,500; and ii the appellant has, at the same time, made an appeal to the Tribunal in relation to the domestic element of the property. The Rules also regulate appeals under regulation 12(1) of the Rate Relief (Education, Training and Leaving Care) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (S.R. 2007 No. 148) which provides for an appeal to the Tribunal against the result of a review by the Department of a decision that a person is not entitled to exemption from rates under those Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 is “guilty of 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