UK Offence Report

Registration obligations

regulation 18A(3) of The Waste Management Licensing Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2003

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

3 A person who carries on an exempt activity in breach of the registration obligations shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 18A(3)?

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 carries on an exempt activity in breach of the registration obligations.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Waste Management Licensing Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Scotland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (CP(S)A 1995 s.225(2)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
10 March 2003
In force from
1 April 2003
Extent
S

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 miscellaneous changes to waste management legislation by amending the Environment Act 1995 (c. 25) (“the 1995 Act”) and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (“the 1994 Regulations”). Regulation 2 amends the definition of “environmental licence” in section 56(1) of the 1995 Act, to extend the powers of SEPA, as the waste regulation authority under the 1994 Regulations, to charge by virtue of a scheme under section 41 of the 1995 Act, for the registration of certain activities which are exempt from the requirement for a waste management licence under regulations 17, 18 and Schedule 3 of the 1994 Regulations. Regulations 4 to 12 amend the 1994 Regulations, with regulation 4 making some consequential amendments to the interpretation provisions in regulation 1(3) of the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 5 replaces regulation 4 of the 1994 Regulations, which makes provision for the qualifications to be required before a person will be regarded as a fit and proper person to manage activities authorised by a waste management licence, as required by Section 74 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which also applies to permits granted under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (S.S.I. 2000/323) ((including permits granted for the purpose of Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste (O.J. L No. 182, 16.7.1999, p.1.). Qualifications are granted by the Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board (WAMITAB). This amendment together with that in regulation 9 gives recognition to changes in the system of WAMITAB certificates with effect from 1st April 2003. A new Schedule 1A to those Regulations is introduced, setting out the facilities for the management of which WAMITAB certificates are required and the appropriate range of certificates for each type of facility. Regulations 6 to 8 and 10 to 12 amend regulations 17 and 18 of, and Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations, which relate to the requirement for registration of activities exempt from waste management licensing, as provided for in Article 11(2) of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (O.J. No. L 194, 25.7.1975, p39) as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC (O.J. No. L 377, 31.12.1991, p.48). Regulation 6 amends regulation 17 of the 1994 Regulations, to enable the Scottish Ministers to issue guidance to SEPA in relation to the registration of exempt activities and for SEPA to have regard to this. Regulation 7 amends regulation 18 of the 1994 Regulations to (a) specify the information required before SEPA can register an exempt activity falling within paragraphs 7, 9 and 19 of Schedule 3, as supplemented by Schedule 3A; (b) make provision for the annual renewal of notifications of those exempt activities; and (c) make provision in certain circumstances for the refusal and/or removal of registration for those activities. Regulation 8 inserts a new regulation 18A into the 1994 Regulations, to specify the registration obligations incumbent on an establishment or undertaking which carries out those activities, in reliance of a registered exemption, such as the prior notification of when an activity is to be carried out, and the keeping of appropriate records for a period of at least 2 years. Regulation 10 replaces paragraphs 7, 9 and 19 of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations, which respectively exempt from waste management licensing certain land treatment activities (paragraph 7), land reclamation or improvement activities (paragraph 9) and building waste storage activities (paragraph 19). For each activity, detailed provision is made specifying the types of waste which can be used or stored or the conditions which must be satisfied in reliance of an exemption. Further provision is also contained in Schedule 3A to the 1994 Regulations, as inserted by Regulation 11 of these Regulations. Regulation 12 amends paragraph 13 of Schedule 4 to the 1994 Regulations, to make provision for SEPA inspections of activities exempt under paragraphs 7, 9 and 19 of Schedule 3. Regulation 13 is a transitional provision, to allow continued reliance on an existing exemption under those paragraphs of Schedule 3, for a period of 6 months from the coming into force of these Regulations. A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been placed in the library of the Scottish Parliament and copies can be obtained from the SEPA Sponsorship and Waste Unit, Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD), Victoria Quay, Leith, EH6 6QQ.

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