UK Offence Report

Section 13(1) of the 1990 Act (by which any person who provides any service falling within section 2(1)(a)…

article 2(1) of The Broadcasting Act 1990 (Independent Television Services: Exceptions) Order 1990

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 Section 13(1) of the 1990 Act (by which any person who provides any service falling within section 2(1)(a) or (b) of that Act without being authorised to do so by or under

a licence under Part I of that Act is guilty of an offence) shall not apply to the services or descriptions of services which are specified in paragraph (2) below.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 article 2(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person provides any service falling within section 2(1)(a) or (b) of that Act without being authorised to do so by or under a licence under Part I of that Act.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Broadcasting Act 1990 (Independent Television Services: Exceptions) Order 1990.

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.

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
12 December 1990
In force from
1 January 1991
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

Under section 13(1) of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it is an offence for a person to provide the services listed below without being authorised to do so by or under a licence under Part I of that Act. However, the offence in section 13(1) does not apply to such services or descriptions of services as are specified in an order made by the Secretary of State under section 13(2). This Order exercises that power and specifies exceptions. Section 13(1) applies to television programme services (as defined by section 2(4)) which are provided from the United Kingdom by persons other than the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Welsh Authority (which is defined by section 202(1) as the authority renamed Sianel Pedwar Cymru by section 56(1)). It also applies to additional services (as defined by section 48(1)) which are provided from places in the United Kingdom. Article 2(2) of this Order specifies certain television programme services or descriptions of services to which section 13(1) of the 1990 Act does not apply. No exceptions are made in respect of additional services. Schedule 11 to the 1990 Act, to which article 2(2)(a) of this Order refers, makes transitional provisions relating to the broadcasting services of the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Under article 3(1) of, and Schedule 2 to, the Broadcasting Act 1990 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provisions) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990/2347), section 13 of the 1990 Act comes into force on 1st January 1991 when this Order also comes into force.

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”
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