UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

regulation 3(14)(a) of The Driving and Motorcycle Instructors (Recognition of European Professional Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

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

a for paragraph (2) substitute— 2 If at any time a person who is not registered in Part 1 or 2 of the register— a displays a certificate or other item prescribed under paragraph (1) for use by persons registered in that Part; b uses a title or other description prescribed under paragraph (1)(b) for use by such persons; or c uses a title, certificate or other description implying that he is registered in that Part, he is guilty of an offence unless he proves that he did not know, and did not have reasonable cause to believe, that he was not registered in Part 1 or, as the case may be, Part 2 of the register at that time. ;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonable cause to believe.

The defence, as drafted

t he is registered in that Part, he is guilty of an offence unless he proves that he did not know, and did not have reasonable cause to believe, that he was not registered in Part 1 or, as the case may be, Part 2 of the register at that time. ;

What would breach regulation 3(14)(a)?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Driving and Motorcycle Instructors (Recognition of European Professional Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017.

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
23 June 2017
In force from
31 July 2017
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 make further provision to implement Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. Regulation 3 amends the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 regarding the requirement for registration to comply with the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015. This regulation provides for the division of the existing register of approved driving and motorcycle instructors into two Parts. Part 1 will contain established approved driving and motorcycle instructors, and Part 2 will contain driving and motorcycle instructors who have obtained their professional qualifications in the European Economic Area or Switzerland and who are working in the United Kingdom on a temporary and occasional basis. The condition for registration in Part 2 of the register is inserted by regulation 3(6)(c). Regulation 2 provides for the existing register to become Part 1 of the new two Part register once these Regulations come into operation. Regulation 4 amends the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 to reflect the introduction of the EU temporary driving and motorcycle instructor categories. Regulation 5 amends the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 to reflect the introduction of an EU temporary motorcycle instructor category. Regulation 6 amends the Motor Vehicles (Driving Instruction) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 to expand the references to the register to reflect the new two part format. Provisions in relation to the termination of registration and the official title of registered persons are also amended. An Explanatory Memorandum and Transposition Note have been produced and are available from Safe and Sustainable Travel Division, Department for Infrastructure, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Town Parks, Belfast BT2 8GB or online alongside the Statutory Rule at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr.

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