UK Offence Report

6 A person who contravenes regulation 4 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary…

regulation 6 of The Control of Pollution (Anglers' Lead Weights) Regulations 1986

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

6 A person who contravenes regulation 4 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2,000, and 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 6?

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 contravenes regulation 4.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Control of Pollution (Anglers' Lead Weights) Regulations 1986, 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
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Environmental Protection (Anglers’ Lead Weights) (England) Regulations 2015
Revoked on
1 July 2015
Made
21 November 1986
In force from
1 January 1987
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These regulations apply to lead weights, which are defined by regulation 2 to mean split shot or any other thing suitable for weighting fishing lines unless incorporated in the core of a line, or in the construction of swim-feeders, self-cocking floats or fishing flies. Regulation 3 prohibits the importation of lead (including lead in compound or alloy) in the form of lead weights. Regulation 4 prohibits the supply of lead in the form of lead weights for the purpose of weighting fishing lines, and creates a presumption that a person supplying split shot does so for the purpose of weighting fishing lines, unless the contrary is shown. These prohibitions do not apply to lead weights of 0.06 grams or less or of more than 28.35 grams. Regulation 6 prescribes criminal penalties for contravention of regulation 4. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is a fine of £2,000 and on conviction on indictment an unlimited fine. Importation with intent to evade the prohibition contained in regulation 3 will be an offence under section 50 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (1979 c. 2).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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