UK Offence Report

Amendment of the principal Regulations

regulation 3(9) of The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (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

9 For regulation 16 (Offences and penalties) substitute— 16 Any person who contravenes regulation 6, 7 or 8 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both; and b on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 3(9)?

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 contravenes regulation 6, 7 or 8.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
20 October 2008
In force from
1 December 2008
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 Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 247, as amended by S.R. 1998 No. 77 and S.R. 1999 No. 125) (“the principal Regulations”), which implemented Directive 94/9/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (the ATEX Directive), to give effect to corrigenda to the ATEX Directive (O.J. No. L21, 26.1.2000, p.42 and O.J. No. L304, 5.12.2000, p.19) which makes typographical changes (regulation 3(3), (5), (8) and (10) to (16)). These Regulations also amend the principal Regulations by— amending the definition of “harmonised standard” to reflect the consolidation of Council Directive 83/189/EEC (as amended) in Directive 98/34/EC (O.J. No. L204, 21.7.98, p.37) (regulation 3(2)(a)); amending the definition of “responsible person” to include, in certain circumstances, a person who puts equipment, protective systems, devices or components into service (regulation 3(2)(b)); making provision that the activity of putting into service shall not be regarded as having taken place in certain circumstances (regulation 3(2)(c)); amending regulation 6 to provide a general duty on responsible persons not to put equipment, protective systems or devices into service unless certain requirements specified in the principal Regulations have been complied with (regulation 3(4)); amending regulation 9 to ensure extension to the activity of putting equipment and systems into service (regulation 3(6)); substituting the wording for regulation 11 to reflect the recognition of notified bodies under various agreements (regulation 3(7)); and increasing the range of penalties available (in regulation 16) for offences under the principal Regulations (regulation 3(9)). These Regulations also make a consequential amendment (regulation 4) and revocations (regulation 5) to other legislation. In Great Britain, the corresponding Regulations are the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Amendment) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3766) and the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/830). A regulatory impact assessment prepared by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in respect of these Regulations is held at the offices of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland at 83 Ladas Drive, Belfast BT6 9FR from where a copy may be obtained on request.

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