UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 15(2) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (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

a person to obstruct any person carrying out

a function under these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
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 15(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. On these words it is an offence to obstruct any person carrying out a function under these Regulations.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ 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
11 September 2020
In force from
14 September 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.

These Regulations require certain premises to close to members of the public. They also require a person who is responsible for a place of worship, carrying on a business or providing a service to take measures, where reasonably practicable, to minimise the risk of exposure to coronavirus. A person who is responsible for a relevant hospitality premises is required to take measures to obtain and record visitor information, in a suitable filing system, for a period of at least 21 days. They must provide this information to a public health officer as soon as reasonably practicable if so requested for the purpose of preventing the spread of coronavirus or monitoring the spread of infection and the incidence of coronavirus disease. Persons responsible for a place of worship, for carrying on a business or providing a service are also required to have regard to guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers relating to its premises, business or service. These Regulations create restrictions on gatherings in public places and private dwellings, limiting the number of persons and households which can meet. There are exemptions to these restrictions. There is an associated police power to enter a private dwelling. These Regulations require persons who use a passenger transport service or passenger transport service premises (which are both defined terms in the Regulations) to wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies. These Regulations also require persons who use certain other places, which are listed in schedule 1, to wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies. The Scottish Ministers must review the restrictions and requirements imposed by the Regulations at least once every 21 days and must terminate any restriction or requirement as soon as it is no longer necessary to prevent, protect against, control or provide a public health response to the incidence or spread of coronavirus in Scotland. The first review is required by 1 October 2020. These Regulations expire on 31 March 2021.

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