UK Offence Report

Production of Documents

regulation 8(2) of The Road Service Licensing (Community Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013 (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

2 The driver of

a vehicle which is required under Article

19 of Regulation 1073/2009 to have on board an authorisation or control document shall be guilty of an offence if he fails to present the authorisation or control document when requested to do so by an authorised inspecting officer.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 driver
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 driver 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 8(2)?

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 driver fails to present the authorisation or control document when requested to do so by an authorised inspecting officer.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Road Service Licensing (Community Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
5 December 2013
In force from
13 January 2014
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 give effect to aspects of Regulation (EC) No. 1073/2009 of 21 October 2009 (“Regulation 1073/2009”), which provides for a Community licence allowing buses and coaches access to the market in the carriage of passengers by road between Member States, a requirement for an authorisation for the purpose of carrying out regular services, and a requirement for control documents when carrying out occasional services. Regulation 1073/2009, which has direct effect in Member States, recasts existing European Regulations and governs the conditions for the issue and use of Community licences and authorisations. It prescribes the form of the Community licence (Article 4.2 and Annexes I and II), that the Commission shall establish the format of authorisations (Article 6.4), and the period of validity for both Community licences and authorisations (Articles 4.4 and 6.2 respectively). Regulation 5 confers entitlement to a Community licence on the basis of the relevant Northern Ireland licence. It also provides that existing Community licences and authorisations which meet certain conditions are deemed to be Community licences and authorisations respectively for the purposes of Regulation 1073/2009 and of these Regulations. The competent authority for the purposes of Regulation 1073/2009 is the Department of the Environment (regulation 4). These Regulations establish various offences, punishable on summary conviction by a fine up to level 4 on the standard scale (regulation 3) and level 3 on the standard scale (regulation 8). Authorised inspecting officers are designated for the purpose of carrying out any necessary inspections (regulation 9). Provision is also made for administrative penalties in certain circumstances which includes the refusal to issue and the withdrawal of documents (regulation 6). The Regulations confer the right of appeal to the county court against administrative penalties (regulation 7). Regulation 10 requires the applicant for a Community licence or authorisation to supply information. Provision is made for the automatic transfer of a Community licence and an authorisation following the death, bankruptcy or incapacity of the holder (regulation 11) and for offences which may be committed by a body corporate (regulation 12). In addition provision is made for the amendment or modification of other relevant legislation (regulations 13 and 14). A full impact assessment of the effect that Regulation 1073/2009 (along with two other related EU Road Transport Regulations) will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this Regulation on www.legislation.gov.uk. Regulation 1073/2009 can be viewed on the EUR-Lex website at www.eur-lex.europa.eu.

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