UK Offence Report

Amendment of regulation 32

regulation 14(b) of The Nutrient Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019

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

b for paragraph (3) substitute—

3 It shall be an offence for the controller to fail to comply with regulation 9(5), 10, 11(1) or (2), 13(1), 14(1), 22, 27(1), (2), (3A) or (4), 28, 40(5) or paragraph

4 of Schedule 8. ;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 14(b)?

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 with regulation 9(5), 10, 11(1) or (2), 13(1), 14(1), 22, 27(1), (2), (3A) or (4), 28, 40(5) or paragraph 4 of Schedule 8.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Nutrient Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019, 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
24 September 2019
In force from
15 October 2019
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Nutrient Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019 (the principal regulations), following the Commission Decision 2019/1325, granting approval to operate a derogation in accordance with paragraph 2 of Annex III to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. Regulation 4 contains additional definitions for derogated holdings. Regulation 5 introduces requirement for a risk assessment when spreading fertiliser on land other than steeply sloping land and amends the exceptions to relation the land application of slurry. Regulation 6 provides that a derogated holding is excluded from the 170 kg N/ha/year, limit of livestock manure. Regulation 7 makes an amendment about the application of anaerobic digestate resulting from biodegradable waste. Regulation 8 provides that certain application limits have effect from 1st January 2020. Regulation 9 adds a requirement in relation to a fertilisation plan for a derogated holding. Regulations 10 correct a drafting error. Regulation 11 makes an amendment to requirement for storing poultry litter or anaerobic digestate in a field heap. Regulation 12 amends requirements for records for a derogated holding. Regulations 13 and 14 contain consequential amendments. Regulation 15 makes an amendment about reviews. Regulations 16 inserts a new Part 10 to provide for a derogation from the measure governing the limits on land application of livestock manure, as provided for in paragraph 2(b) of Annex III of the Directive. Regulation 17 inserts a provision about phosphorus balance for derogated holdings. Regulation 18 updates the phosphorus content of pig slurry and corrects a drafting error. Regulation 19 makes amendments to risk assessment for fertiliser application to steeply sloping land, inserts a new risk assessment for such application to all other lands and consequential amendments Regulation 20 inserts a new Schedule 8 setting out the conditions applying to a derogation.

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