UK Offence Report

EEIG identification

regulation 16(1) of The European Economic Interest Grouping Regulations 1989

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 If an EEIG fails to comply with article

25 of the EC Regulation it is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 16(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the European Economic Interest Grouping Regulations 1989, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£400
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 3 value when the instrument came into force (1989-07-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean £1000.

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
10 April 1989
In force from
1 July 1989
Extent
E+W+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 make provisions in respect of European Economic Interest Groupings formed under article 1 of the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2137/85, which provides a legal framework for groupings of natural persons, companies, firms and other legal entities to enable them to co-operate effectively when carrying on business activities across national frontiers within the European Community. Such groupings, which have their official address in Great Britain, when registered there under these Regulations are bodies corporate and their members have unlimited joint and several liability for the debts and liabilities of such groupings. The EC Regulation is directly applicable in UK law but these Regulations are necessary for implementation in part of the Community obligations and for other purposes mentioned in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. In particular certain provisions are left for national law by the EC Regulation. Articles 35 and 36 provide that groupings shall be subject to national laws governing their winding up and the conclusion of their liquidation and insolvency and cessation of payments. Regulation 8 of these Regulations provides for modifications to Part V of the Insolvency Act 1986, where a grouping is wound up as an unregistered company under Part V. Accordingly the Court has power to wind up a grouping in the circumstances set out in articles 31 and 32 or the grouping may be wound up voluntarily in the circumstances set out in article 31; and a grouping is dissolved after 3 months of the receipt by the registrar of a notice of the conclusion of the liquidation, whether or not the grouping has been wound up by the Court.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
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