UK Offence Report

Passenger information: offences and penalties

regulation 5(2) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (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

2 It is an offence for P to provide false or misleading information for the purposes of regulation

3 or 4, where P—

a knows that the information is false or misleading, or

b is reckless as to whether the information is false or misleading.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knows that).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knows that.

What would breach regulation 5(2)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
7 June 2020
In force from
8 June 2020
Extent
Not stated

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.

For the purpose of preventing the spread of infection or contamination with coronavirus, these Regulations impose requirements on people arriving in Scotland who have been outside the common travel area (that is, the open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands) in the 14 days prior to their arrival. Regulation 3 requires people to provide (where applicable) information listed in schedule 1 on a Passenger Locator Form (“passenger information”) before or on arrival in Scotland. Regulation 4(2) obliges people to keep their passenger information up-to-date until the end of the fourteenth day after the day on which they arrived in Scotland from outwith the common travel area. Regulation 5 sets out that is an offence to fail to provide passenger information in accordance with regulation 3 or to fail to keep it up-to date in accordance with regulation 4(2). A person who commits such an offence is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. Regulation 6(2) requires a person to travel without undue delay on their arrival to Scotland to specified premises and stay there until whichever is the earlier of (a) the end of the fourteenth day after the day on which they arrived in the common travel area, or (b) their departure from Scotland. Regulation 6(7) provides that a person with responsibility for a child (as defined in regulation 2) must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that the child complies with the requirement to stay at the specified premises. A person is permitted to leave the specified premises where one of the reasons in regulation 9(6) applies. Regulation 7 lists the persons exempt from the requirement in regulation 6. Regulation 8 provides police officers with powers to direct or remove persons to a place where they are required to stay, if they suspect that the person is in breach of a requirement in regulation 6(2). Regulations 9 to 11 make provision for offences, penalties and fixed penalty notices under these Regulations. Regulation 13 sets out when passenger information can be disclosed and used in Scotland. The necessity and proportionality of these Regulations must be reviewed at least once every 21days (regulation 14) and they will expire 12 months beginning with the day on which they come into force (regulation 15).

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