UK Offence Report

Amendment of Part VI of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

regulation 6(3)(b) of The Community Drivers’ Hours and Recording Equipment (Exemptions and Supplementary Provisions) 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

b after paragraph (1) insert the following paragraphs— 1A A person shall not be liable to be convicted under paragraph (1) if being charged as the offender’s employer, or

a person to whose orders the offender was subject, he proves—

a that at the time of the contravention he was complying with Article 10(1) (distance related payments etc.) and Article 10(2) (organisation of drivers’ work etc.) of the Community Driver’s Hours Regulation); and

b that he took all reasonable steps to avoid the contravention. 1B A person who—

a is subject to the requirement imposed by Article 10(4) of the Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation (undertakings etc. to ensure that contractually agreed transport time schedules respect that Regulation); and

b fails to take all reasonable steps to comply with that requirement, shall be guilty of an offence under this Order. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: fails to take all reasonable steps.

What would breach regulation 6(3)(b)?

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 Community Drivers’ Hours and Recording Equipment (Exemptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009, 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 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
10 March 2009
In force from
23 April 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 facilitate compliance with the new Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 561/2006), which had full effect as from 11 April 2007, replacing the former Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation (Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85). These Regulations revoke the Community Drivers’ Hours and Recording Equipment (Exemptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 1987, as amended, that implemented certain discretionary, national exemptions allowed under Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85, as amended, which sets out the drivers’ hours enforcement penalties (in relation to both the EC and domestic drivers’ hours rules). These Regulations make provisions to implement the new enforcement measures contained in the new Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation that: make transport undertakings automatically liable for infringements committed by their drivers, although a defence is provided; make undertakings, consignors, freight forwarders, tour operators, principal contractors, sub-contractors and driver employment agencies responsible for ensuring that contractually agreed transport time schedules respect the new Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation; and enable enforcement authorities in Northern Ireland to take action in respect of infringements detected there but committed outside Northern Ireland. These Regulations give effect to those discretionary national derogations contained in the Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation that have been adopted in Northern Ireland. They exempt certain types of operation from the Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation and, in most cases, from the application of the Community Recording Equipment Regulation (Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85). These Regulations also continue to exempt certain operations that were exempted after a special authorisation was granted by the European Commission in 1987. These Regulations define “historic status” for the purpose of a new automatic exemption in the new Community Drivers’ Hours Regulation for commercial vehicles which have a historic status according to the legislation of the Member State in which they are being driven and which are used for the non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods. Copies of EC Regulations referred to in these Regulations can be obtained from TSO, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GB.

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 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