False claim of status as creditor, etc

rule 12.18(1) of The Insolvency Rules 1986

Revoked, but still prosecutable
Requires proof of a state of mind
Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax

The provision has been revoked, but a saving provision keeps it prosecutable for conduct before a stated date. A person can still be charged with something it is no longer an offence to do.

What the provision says

1 Where the Rules provide for creditors, members of
a company or contributories in
a company's winding up
a right to inspect any documents, whether on the court's file or in the hands of
a responsible insolvency practitioner or other person, it is an offence for
a person, with the intention of obtaining
a sight of documents which he has not under the Rules any right to inspect, falsely to claim
a status which would entitle him to inspect them.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 company
Conduct: breaching the provision
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 (with the intention of).

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: with the intention of.

What would breach rule 12.18(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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Insolvency Rules 1986.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Fraud, bribery and money laundering offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2014
Covers fraud, false accounting, bribery and money laundering, including offences committed by organisations.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: Revoked, but still prosecutable
Revoked by: The Insolvency (Amendment) Rules 2013 (revoked)
Revoked on: 1 October 2013
Made: 10 November 1986
In force from: 29 December 1986
Extent: E+W

How this was established: revoked, but a saving provision keeps the offence prosecutable for conduct before the stated date.

What the instrument is for

These Rules set out the detailed procedure for the conduct of all company and individual insolvency proceedings in England and Wales under the Insolvency Act 1986 and otherwise give effect to that Act. The insolvency proceedings concerned are— company voluntary arrangements (Part 1 of the Rules), administration (Part 2), administrative receivership (Part 3), companies winding up (Part 4), individual voluntary arrangements (Part 5), and bankruptcy (Part 6). Parts 7 to 13 of the Rules apply to both company and individual insolvency proceedings and are concerned with the following matters— court procedure and practice (Part 7), proxies and company representation (Part 8), examination of persons concerned in company and individual insolvency (Part 9). official receivers (Part 10), declaration and payment of dividend (winding up and bankruptcy) (Part 11), miscellaneous and general (Part 12), and interpretation and application (Part 13). The Arrangement of Rules at the beginning of the statutory instrument lists the number and contents of all the Rules and Schedules. The Rules come into force on 29th December 1986 and generally apply to all insolvency proceedings commenced on or after that date. The Rules also apply to such proceedings commenced before that date to which provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 are applied by Schedule 11 of the Act to the extent necessary to give effect to those provisions. In addition, Rules 6.36, 7.11 and 7.34 expressly provide for their application to insolvency proceedings, whenever commenced.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

False representations, etcrule 1.30(1)
False representations, etcrule 5.30(1)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Insolvency Rules 1986 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and taxOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1986