UK Offence Report

Offences – general

regulation 30(1) of The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008

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 Any person who fails to comply with– a regulation 4, 25 or 26, or b a requirement imposed by a notice served under regulation 28, is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 30(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 fails to comply with– a regulation 4, 25 or 26, or b a requirement imposed by a notice served under regulation 28.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown 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
4 September 2008
In force from
1 January 2009
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 establish a revised action programme for the nitrate vulnerable zones which were designated in Scotland by regulation 3 of the Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2002 and regulation 3 of the Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (No. 2) (Scotland) Regulations 2002. They revoke the previous action programme for Scotland which was established by the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2003 as amended by the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003. The Regulations further implement, as regards Scotland, the requirements in Article 5 of Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (O.J. No. L 375, 31.12.91, p. 1) to establish, review and revise an action programme for nitrate vulnerable zones. Regulation 4 requires the occupier of a farm in a nitrate vulnerable zone to ensure that the provisions in regulations 5 to 24 are implemented in relation to such a farm. Regulation 5 requires a fertiliser and manure management plan to be prepared each year. Regulations 6 to 11 provide for storage of manure on the farm. Regulations 12 to 16 set limits and conditions for applying nitrogen fertiliser on the farm. Regulations 17 and 18 set conditions for applying chemical fertiliser and organic manure. Regulations 19 to 22 set closed periods during which specified fertiliser or manure must not be applied on the farm. Regulation 23 provides for a minimum period between application of livestock manure. Regulation 24 restricts one method of application of slurry, from 1 July 2009. Regulations 25 and 26 provide for records to be kept and retained. Regulation 27 provides for inspections by the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of monitoring implementation. Regulation 28 provides for serving of notices by the Scottish Ministers and regulation 29 for a procedure to appeal against such notices. Breaches of regulations 4, 25, 27 and 28 are made criminal offences (regulation 30). A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been prepared. A copy can be obtained from the Scottish Government, Water, Air, Soils and Flooding Division, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ.

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