UK Offence Report

Registration in connection with exempt activities

regulation 18(1) of The Waste Management Licensing Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (revoked)

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 Subject to paragraph (2), it shall be an offence for an establishment or undertaking to carry on an exempt activity involving the recovery or disposal of waste without being registered with the appropriate registration authority.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an appropriate registration authority
Conduct
breaching the provision
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 an appropriate registration authority 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 18(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 it is an offence to carry on an exempt activity involving the recovery or disposal of waste without being registered with the appropriate registration authority.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Waste Management Licensing Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
8 November 2006
In force from
1 December 2006
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 re-enact regulations 17, 18 and 18A of, and Schedules 3 and 3A to, the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (“the 1994 Regulations”), with amendments. They also amend regulation 17A of the 1994 Regulations. These provisions concern exemptions from waste management licensing (“exempt activities”). These Regulations transpose the requirements of Articles 4 and 11 of the Waste Framework Directive (formerly Directive 75/442/EEC (O.J. No. L 194, 25.07.1975, p.39), and now consolidated as Directive 2006/12/EC (O.J. No. L 114, 27.04.2006, p.21)), and Article 3 of the Hazardous Waste Directive (91/689/EC as amended by Council Directive 94/31/EC and Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council). The Regulations also implement Commission Decision 2000/532/EC (as amended by Commission Decision 2001/118/EC, Commission Decision 2001/119/EC and Commission Decision 2001/573/EC) establishing a list of wastes pursuant to Article 1(a) of the Waste Framework Directive and Article 1(4) of the Hazardous Waste Directive. The list of wastes contained within that Decision is known as the European Waste Catalogue. Regulations 3 to 9 amend the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 3 amends regulation 1 of the 1994 Regulations by inserting definitions of “co-incineration”, “co-incineration plant”, “incineration”, “incineration plant” and “WEEE”. Regulation 4 re-enacts regulation 17 of the 1994 Regulations with drafting and minor amendments. Regulation 17 disapplies the requirement for a waste management licence for the purposes of section 33(1)(a) and (b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in the case of exempt activities as set out in Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 5 amends regulation 17A of the 1994 Regulations to provide that the deemed authorisation, for the purposes of regulation 5 of the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005, of an exempt activity which is a controlled activity, does not apply to exempt activities involving the construction, alteration or operation of impounding works in bodies of surface water; building, engineering or other works in, or in the vicinity of, any body of inland surface water; or to activities associated with such activities. Regulation 6 re-enacts regulation 18 of the 1994 Regulations with drafting and minor amendments. Regulation 18 makes provision for registration of exempt activities. The amendment also makes provision for registration requirements for new exempt activities as contained in paragraphs 42 and 47 of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 7 re-enacts regulation 18A of the 1994 Regulations with drafting and minor amendments. Regulation 18A makes provision for registration obligations in connection with certain exempt activities, including the new activities in paragraphs 42 and 47 of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 8 substitutes a new Schedule 3 into the 1994 Regulations. This is contained in Schedule 1 to these Regulations. Schedule 3 describes the activities which are exempt from waste management licensing requirements. In addition to drafting and minor amendments, Schedule 1 makes some changes of substance, including: The omission of the exempt activities formerly contained in paragraphs 2 (operation of a scrap metal furnace under an authorisation under Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990), 16 (activities authorised by a licence under article 7 or 8 of the Diseases of Animals (Waste Food) Order 1973), 28 (storage of returned goods), 42 (activities involving scrap metal or waste motor vehicles authorised under Part I of the Control of Pollution Act 1974) and 43 (activities not requiring a disposal licence under the Control of Pollution Act 1974) of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations; The addition of new exemptions to Schedule 3 for the following activities: the recovery of fuel from waste vegetable oils for use in certain engines (paragraph 5(4)-(6)); the repair or refurbishment of waste goods (paragraph 14(2)); the use of compacted and securely baled tyres in engineering works (paragraph 16); the use of autoclaves to sterilise waste (paragraph 28); the disposal of pesticide solution or washings in a lined biobed, and the recovery and reuse of liquid and material from a biobed (paragraph 42); the crushing of waste gas discharge lamps for the purposes of volume reduction prior to collection (paragraph 43); the repair, refurbishment and storage of waste electronic and electrical equipment (“WEEE”) (paragraphs 47 and 48). Regulation 9 substitutes a new Schedule 3A into the 1994 Regulations. This is contained in Schedule 2 to these Regulations. Part 1 of Schedule 3A lists the plans and documents which are required for the registration of certain exempt activities. In addition to drafting and minor amendments, provision is made for the new exempt activities in paragraphs 42 and 47 of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations. Part 2 of Schedule 3A describes how benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement is to be assessed and has been amended to extend this to the activities mentioned in paragraphs 25 and 42 of Schedule 3 to the 1994 Regulations. Regulation 10 amends the definition of “environmental licence” in section 56(1) of the Environment Act 1995 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 exempt activities. Regulations 11 and 12 contain transitional arrangements in relation to the continued carrying out of activities which will either require a relevant waste management licence or registration as exempt activities under the 1994 Regulations as amended by these Regulations.

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