UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995

regulation 4 of The Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

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 In regulation 34 (protection of wild animals)—

a for paragraph (1) substitute—

1 It is an offence—

a deliberately to capture, injure or kill

a wild animal of

a European protected species;

b deliberately to disturb such an animal while it is occupying

a structure or place which it uses for shelter or protection;

c deliberately to disturb such an animal in such

a way as to be likely to—

i affect the local distribution or abundance of the species to which it belongs;

ii impair its ability to survive, breed or reproduce, or rear or care for its young; or

iii impair its ability to hibernate or migrate;

d deliberately to take or destroy the eggs of such an animal;

e deliberately to obstruct access to

a breeding site or resting place of such an animal; or

f to damage or destroy

a breeding site or resting place of such an animal. ; and

b omit paragraphs (8), (9) and (10).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (deliberately).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: deliberately.

What would breach regulation 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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
7 January 2009
In force from
30 January 2009
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 Conservation (Natural Habitats etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (“the 1995 Regulations”) which make provision for implementing Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (“the Habitats Directive”) (O.J. No L206, 22.7.92, p.7). Regulation 3 amends regulation 9A of the 1995 Regulations to specify in greater detail the arrangements to be made by the Department, or the Secretary of State as the case may be, for the surveillance of the conservation status of natural habitat types of Community interest and species of Community interest. Similarly, regulation 6 amends regulation 36A of the 1995 Regulations to specify in greater detail the arrangements to be made by the Department, or the Secretary of State as the case may be, for monitoring the incidental capture and incidental killing of animals of the species listed in Annex IV(a) to the Habitats Directive. Regulation 4 amends regulation 34 of the 1995 Regulations by amending the terms of the offence of deliberately disturbing a European protected species of animal. It also revokes regulation 34(8), (9) and (10) which contained special provision as to the interpretation of the disturbance offence in regulation 34(1) in relation to sea fishing. Regulation 5 amends regulation 35 of the 1995 Regulations, which contains defences to the offences contained in regulation 34 relating to European protected species of animal, by providing that those defences do not apply where it is shown that there was a satisfactory alternative to the defendant’s action or that the action was detrimental to the maintenance of the population concerned at a favourable conservations status.

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