UK Offence Report

8 Any person who intentionally obstructs the exercise of any rights conferred by a warrant under this Part…

regulation 20(8) of The Electricity and Gas (Market Integrity and Transparency) (Enforcement etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013

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

8 Any person who intentionally obstructs the exercise of any rights conferred by

a warrant under this Part is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months or

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale, or 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 (intentionally).

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: intentionally.

What would breach regulation 20(8)?

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 intentionally obstructs the exercise of any rights conferred by a warrant under this Part.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Electricity and Gas (Market Integrity and Transparency) (Enforcement etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

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

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
2 August 2013
In force from
31 August 2013
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.

Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (OJ No L 326, 08.12.2011, pl) (“REMIT”) imposes obligations and prohibitions in relation to trading in wholesale energy products within the European Union. Wholesale energy products are contracts and derivatives relating to electricity and gas, as defined in Article 2(4) of REMIT. Article 18 of REMIT requires member States to put in place rules on penalties for failures to comply with REMIT. Article 13 of REMIT provides that enforcement of REMIT requirements is the responsibility of “national regulatory authorities”; the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (“the Authority”), is the national regulator for Northern Ireland. (Article 2(10) of REMIT defines national regulatory Authority by reference to designation in accordance with other EU legislation; the Authority is designated by section 3A(1) of The Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, which was inserted by regulation 35 of the Gas and Electricity (Internal Markets) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 (S.R. 2011/155). Article 13 of REMIT requires member States to ensure that national regulatory authorities have the necessary investigatory and enforcement powers. Article 14 of REMIT requires member States to ensure that a person affected by a decision of the Authority has a right of appeal. These Regulations give effect to Articles 13, 14 and 18 of REMIT, and make related provision, so far as obligations and prohibitions in REMIT apply; they give effect to Articles 13, 14 and 18 in respect of Article 3 (prohibition of insider trading), Article 4 (obligation to publish inside information), Article 5 (prohibition of market manipulation) and Article 15 (obligations of persons professionally arranging transactions) collectively, “REMIT requirements”, defined in regulation 4. The obligations in Article 8 (data collection) and Article 9 (registration of market participants) do not yet apply: see Article 22 of REMIT. Part 3 of these Regulations, Information and Investigation, imposes an obligation on specified persons to record and retain records (regulation 8); provides the Authority with powers to require information (regulation 9and 11), and generally enables the Authority to conduct investigations (regulation 12), power to require the production of reports by skilled persons (regulation 13) and power to enter premises under a warrant (regulation 16). Regulation 20 makes provision for failure to comply with Part 3 requirements. Part 4 of these Regulations makes provision for injunctions – for example, to restrain a person who the High Court (in Northern Ireland) is satisfied is failing to comply with a REMIT requirement (regulation 21). Part 4 also makes provision for restitution if a person has accrued profits or caused loss or other adverse effect by failing to comply with a REMIT requirement. Restitution may be ordered by the court on the application of the Authority (regulation 22) or may be required by the Authority (regulations 23 to 25). Part 5 of these Regulations makes provision in respect of penalties. It enables the Authority to impose either a penalty or a statement of censure if a person has failed to comply either with a REMIT requirement or regulation 8 of these Regulations (regulation 26). The Authority must produce and publish a statement of policy with respect to penalties to which it must have regard when exercising its regulation 26 power (regulations 27 and 29). Until the Authority has published such a statement of penalty policy, Schedule 3 makes transitory provision as to the policy to which the Authority must have regard. The statement of policy referred to in paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 is published at http://www.uregni.gov.uk/news/. Regulation 32 also enables the court to impose a penalty, when the Authority has applied for an injunction or restitution order. Part 6 of these Regulations provides further details on the notices that must be given by the Authority when exercising either its power to require restitution or its power to impose a penalty or statement of censure (regulations 35 to 38) and on the Authority’s procedures in respect of those notices (regulations 42 and 43). Regulation 39 makes provision in relation to the publication of notices and details concerning them. Part 6 also confers rights on third parties who may be prejudiced by warning or decision notices given by the Authority (regulation 40) and provides for access to Authority material (regulation 41). Regulations 25 (restitution), 31 (penalty) and 40 (third party) confer rights of appeal (“reference”) to the Upper Tribunal (as created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007). Part 7 makes provision in respect of those references. Schedule 1 to these Regulations provides for the application of these Regulations to the Crown. Schedule 2 makes provision as to service of notices. Part 8 makes provision as to the application of the offences created by regulations 20 and46 of these Regulations. Part 9 makes miscellaneous provision as to the disclosure and protection of information. Part 2 imposes a duty on the Authority to advise and assist the Department in relation to REMIT and these Regulations. Regulation 52 may require the Department to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report. A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

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