UK Offence Report

Enforcement notices

regulation 23(7) of The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

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

7 An enforcement notice must—

a specify the matters constituting the failure to comply or making

a failure to comply likely;

b specify the steps that must be taken to remedy or avert the failure to comply;

c specify the period in which those steps must be taken;

d provide information on the right to appeal under regulation 24; and

e state that it is an offence under regulation 26(1)(d) to fail to comply with the enforcement notice.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 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.

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 23(7)?

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. Being served with a notice under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
21 December 2015
In force from
31 January 2016
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.

The Regulations revoke and remake with amendments the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009 No. 184). These Regulations give effect to Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006. These Regulations attempt to limit emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases (“F-gases”) into the atmosphere by ensuring that employees and companies in a number of sectors of business in Northern Ireland are certified to handle equipment during the course of their business without emitting large quantities of F-gases. The sectors of business and types of equipment are stationary refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump equipment, fire extinguishers and fire protection systems, high-voltage switchgear, F-gas based solvents, and air-conditioning systems in certain motor vehicles. These Regulations may also affect businesses involved in insulation foams, aerosol sprays, medical inhalers, Organic Rankine Cycles and refrigerated trucks and trailers. A number of new offences are listed for which the sectors of business mentioned above must ensure compliance. Some, although not all, of the new requirements for businesses only become offences following the failure to comply with a specially issued enforcement notice. The enforcement notice would detail any breaches of these Regulations and specify the steps to take to remedy the infringement(s). Failure to comply with the enforcement notice would then become an offence. The offences and breaches which may merit an enforcement notice include the deliberate release of F-gases into the atmosphere, the failure to comply with measures to prevent the leakage of F-gases from equipment, the failure to ensure that employees and companies working with equipment containing F-gases are qualified to do so, and failure to co-operate with authorised persons enforcing these Regulations. There are also provisions to ensure that accurate records of F-gases handled are kept, reports on F-gases handled are sent to the European Commission, equipment containing F-gases is properly labelled, prohibited types of equipment containing F-gases are not sold, purchased or placed on the market, and that the quota to restrict the use of certain types of F-gases is not exceeded. A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations would have upon the costs of business is available from the Department of the Environment, Goodwood House, 44-58 May Street, Belfast BT1 4NN.

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