UK Offence Report

1 It is an offence for Scottish Water to contravene— a regulation 29(1); b a requirement of a notice given…

regulation 35(1) of The Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014

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 It is an offence for Scottish Water to contravene— a regulation 29(1); b a requirement of a notice given to it under regulation 31(3)(d); c regulation 33(1); d a requirement of a notice given to it under regulation 33(7); e a requirement of a notice given to it under regulation 34(1)(b); or f a requirement of a notice given to it under regulation 34(2)(b).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 35(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 contravene— a regulation 29(1).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£10,000
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
17 December 2014
In force from
1 January 2015
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 aim to protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water supplied by Scottish Water for human consumption purposes by ensuring that it is wholesome. In so far as they apply to water supplied by Scottish Water for human consumption purposes, they also apply the measures necessary to deliver the requirements of Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (“the Directive”). Regulation 16 also supplements measures which deliver the requirements of Article 7(1) and (2) of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (“the Water Framework Directive”). Except for regulations 16, 17 to 22 (in part), 23 , 29(3) to (5), 30, 31, 33(12), 35(1)(a) and (b) and (2) (read with 35(4)), 36, 40 to 45, 46(2) and 48 to 52, the provisions of these Regulations revoke and re-enact (with some modifications) provisions of the Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (“the 2001 Regulations”). Except where the contrary intention appears, in so far as a thing done (such as a sample taken or a failure investigated) or having effect as if so done under a provision of the 2001 Regulations could have been done under the re-enacted provision (modified or not), that thing has effect as if done under that re-enacted provision. Part 1 makes provision for citation, commencement, extent, application and interpretation. Part 2 requires Scottish Water to designate areas of its supply as ‘water supply zones’. Part 3 sets the standards of wholesomeness required for water supplied by Scottish Water. Part 4 requires Scottish Water to take samples of water to check compliance with the standards of wholesomeness required. Samples taken from consumers’ taps must be selected at random. Part 5 requires Scottish Water to identify its drinking water abstraction points and to take samples in order to check compliance with treatment standards and for risk assessment purposes. Part 6 requires Scottish Water to immediately investigate any failure, or apprehended failure, to satisfy the standards of wholesomeness required. Scottish Water must immediately notify its consumers and other persons of any potential danger to human health. Scottish Water must report its findings. Where the failure affects water supplies to the public and the cause is due to a domestic distribution system in premises where water is supplied to the public, the Scottish Ministers may direct the relevant local authority in relation to the exercise of its powers to take remedial action under the Water (Scotland) Act 1980. In other cases, Scottish Water must take remedial action to restore a wholesome supply and to protect human health. Part 7 provides for the authorisation of temporary departures from the wholesomeness standards. Part 8 requires Scottish Water to treat and disinfect its water supplies to render harmless any contaminants. It also requires Scottish Water to assess each of its treatment works and connected supply systems to establish if there is any significant risk of it supplying unwholesome water. The Scottish Ministers may require Scottish Water to take steps to mitigate any such risk. Scottish Water must also treat its water to minimise any risk of copper and lead standards being exceeded. Part 9 provides controls in relation to the application and introduction of substances, products and processes in relation to water supplied by Scottish Water for human consumption purposes. Part 10 makes it an offence to contravene some of the provisions in Parts 8 and 9. Part 11 makes provision in relation to records, health risk events and disclosure of information. Part 12 makes provision in relation to incidental powers of entry for Scottish Water, and makes connected provision for an offence of obstruction and compensation for damage. Part 13 makes provision in relation to the enforcement powers of the Scottish Ministers. In particular, regulation 46(2) ensures that a duty or requirement which is not imposed (in whole or part) in exercise of powers under section 76B of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 may be enforced by means of a default order under section 11(2) of that Act in the same way as a duty or requirement imposed in exercise of powers under section 76B of that Act. Part 14 confers incidental functions on local authorities. Part 15 makes consequential amendments and revocations. Part 16 makes transitional provisions. The powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68) (“the 1972 Act”) are exercised so far as may be necessary (to supplement the other powers cited) for the purposes of implementing, or enabling the implementation of, obligations arising under or by virtue of the Directive or Article 7(1) and (2) of the Water Framework Directive, and for the purposes of dealing with matters arising out of or related to any such obligations. In particular, the powers in section 2(2) of the 1972 Act enable provision to be made in— regulation 8 for the authorisation of samples (pursuant to Article 7(3) of the Directive), regulation 16(3), (4) and (5)(b) in connection with monitoring of drinking water abstraction points (pursuant to Article 7(1) and (2) of the Water Framework Directive), regulations 17 to 23 for the investigation and taking of action in relation to failures due to domestic distribution systems (pursuant to Articles 4 and 8 of the Directive), regulation 31(3) for the conferral of a power on the Scottish Ministers to, by notice, require Scottish Water to take certain steps where a report identifies a significant risk of supplying unwholesome water (pursuant to Articles 4 and 8 of the Directive), regulation 35(1)(a) and (b) and (2) (as read with regulation 35(4) and 36) which makes it an offence for Scottish Water to contravene regulation 29(1) or a notice given to it under regulation 31(3)(d), subject to a defence that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid doing so (pursuant to Articles 4 and 8 of the Directive), regulations 40 to 45 for the conferral of incidental powers, the offence of obstruction and provision in relation to compensation (pursuant to Articles 4 to 10 of the Directive), regulation 46(2) for the conferral of an enforcement power in relation to a duty or requirement imposed by virtue of Parts 4 to 11 for a purpose not specified in section 76B of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 (pursuant to Articles 4 to 10 of the Directive), regulations 48 and 49 for the purposes of making amendments to the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 and the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 in consequence of regulations 17 to 23 (in so far as those regulations are made pursuant to Articles 4 and 8 of the Directive), and regulation 50 for the purposes of revoking the Surface Waters (Abstraction for Drinking Water) (Classification) (Scotland) Regulations 1996 in consequence of the repeal (by Article 22(1) of the Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community Action in the field of water policy) of Council Directive 75/440/EEC (OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 26) and Council Directive 79/869/EEC (OJ L 271, 29.10.1979, p. 44). A draft of these Regulations was communicated to the European Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services on the basis that Part 9 contains provisions which constitute ‘technical regulation’ under that Directive. No business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations as no additional impact upon business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.

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