UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 4(1) of The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

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 A person who supplies, offers to supply, or has in their possession for supply,

a single-use vape, is guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

ns, it is a defence for that person to show that the person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to prevent the offence being committed. 2 Where the defence provided by paragraph (1) involves an allegation that the commission of the offence was due to the act or omission of another person, the person charged must not without leave of the court be entitle

What would breach regulation 4(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 an offence is committed where a person supplies, offers to supply, or has in their possession for supply, a single-use vape.
  2. Selling the goods under the Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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
11 December 2024
In force from
1 June 2025
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 prohibit the supply, whether by sale or otherwise, in the course of business of single-use vapes and come into operation on 1 June 2025. Regulation 4 provides that is an offence for a person, in the course of a business, to supply, offer to supply or have in their possession for supply, single-use vapes. A person found guilty of an offence under regulation 4 is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine limited to the statutory maximum, or, on conviction on indictment, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or a fine or both. Regulation 5 provides for a defence of due diligence. A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs to business and the voluntary sector has been prepared and published by the UK Government. The assessment is available from www.legislation.gov.uk and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1 4DF.

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 0.92.

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