UK Offence Report

Offences by bodies corporate

regulation 16(1) of The Forestry Challenge Funds (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (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 A person is guilty of an offence if conditions A and B are met.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 16(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Forestry Challenge Funds (Scotland) Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
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
26 March 2008
In force from
7 May 2008
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 provision for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1698/2005 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Commission Regulations (EC) Nos. 1974/2006 and 1975/2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1698/2005. The Regulations provide for funding being made available by the Forestry Commissioners from the Scotland Rural Development Programme 2007–13 for purposes related to forestry. Regulation 3 sets out the purposes of projects for which grant assistance may be made available. Regulation 4 provides the Forestry Commissioners with power to specify the form and content of applications, whilst regulation 5 makes provision as to the determination of applications, including matters to which the Forestry Commissioners must have regard. Regulations 6 and 7 make provision as to claims for payment of grant and payment. Regulation 8 provides that the Forestry Commissioners may issue guidance, and where they do so, must have regard to that guidance. Regulation 9 provides that where there are insufficient resources to meet claims for grant under a grant scheme the Forestry Commissioners may suspend the consideration of applications, or postpone or cease approving applications. Regulations 10 to 16 deal with enforcement of grant conditions generally. Regulation 10 imposes a duty on applicants to retain records and provide information. Regulation 11 confers powers of entry and inspection on authorised persons to enforce the Regulations. Regulation 12 makes provision for the revocation or variation of approval and the withholding of grants where breaches of obligations have occurred. Regulation 13 makes provision as to interest on grant to be recovered, whilst regulation 14 makes provision as to set off. Regulations 15 and 16 make provision as to offences and offences by bodies corporate, respectively.

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