UK Offence Report

Amendment of regulation 30

regulation 8(1) of The Nitrates Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (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

1 For regulation 30(1) substitute— 30

1 It shall be an offence for the controller to fail to comply without reasonable excuse with regulation 4, 9(1), 12(1), 12(6), 12(7),

22 or 24.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

It shall be an offence for the controller to fail to comply without reasonable excuse with regulation 4, 9(1), 12(1), 12(6), 12(7), 22 or 24.

What would breach regulation 8(1)?

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 it is an offence to fail to comply without reasonable excuse with regulation 4, 9(1), 12(1), 12(6), 12(7), 22 or 24.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Nitrates Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, 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
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
12 November 2015
In force from
14 December 2015
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 Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014 in regard to penalties and the measures concerning land management and record keeping. Regulation 3(2) is amended to correct the definition of “appropriate person” and “silage”. Regulation 22 is amended to include all crops other than grass and use of appropriate measures when a subsequent crop cannot be sown. Regulation 23 is amended to remove restrictions applying only to late harvested crops. Regulation 25(3) is amended to change the required date for submission of manure export records for derogated farms from 31st January to 1st March. Regulation 30 is amended to make non-compliance with Regulations 22 and 24 an offence without a reasonable excuse. Regulation 31 is amended to correct the penalties for a person found guilty of an offence under regulation 30. Schedule 1 Table 1b is amended to correct the value for the approximate sale/transfer weight of pigs weaned at 3-4 weeks. Schedule 1 Table 7 is amended to add additional products and their phosphorus content.

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 0.90.

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