UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Dangerous Substances (Notification and Marking of Sites) Regulations 1990

the instrument as a whole of The Dangerous Substances (Notification and Marking of Sites) Regulations 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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Dangerous Substances (Notification and Marking of Sites) Regulations 1990.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
16 February 1990
In force from
1 September 1990
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 the notification and marking of sites where there is a total quantity of 25 tonnes or more of dangerous substances present at the site. For the purposes of the Regulations “dangerous substance” means any substance which is dangerous for conveyance within the meaning of the Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Substances Regulations 1984 (regulation 2(1)), that is to say, a substance specified in Part 1A of the list approved by the Health and Safety Commission on 9 February 1988 entitled “Information Approved for the Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Substances (2nd Edition)” as revised or a substance which has characteristic properties described in Schedule 2 to those Regulations. These Regulations do not apply to radioactive substances, Class I explosives, substances in specified aerosol dispensers, or substances which have been buried or deposited in the ground as waste (regulation 3 and Schedule 1). The Regulations require the notification to be made to both the fire authority and the enforcing authority, and to contain specified information. A further notification is required where a specified change takes place at the site (regulation 4). These notification requirements do not apply where the site is required to be notified or licensed under other statutory provisions specified in the regulations, and notification to the fire authority is not required in respect of sites which are subject to the provisions of section 3(3) of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1975 at the date of coming into force of the Regulations (regulation 3 and Schedule 1). The Regulations require signs bearing the exclamation mark symbol to be displayed at such places as will give adequate warning to firemen before entering the site in an emergency that dangerous substances are present (regulation 5). Also signs are required to be displayed at such locations within the site as an inspector may direct: these signs must bear the hazard warning symbol and text (shown in Schedule 3 to the Regulations) appropriate to the classification of the dangerous substances concerned, or, in the case of substances with mixed classifications, the exclamation mark symbol and the text “DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE” (regulation 6). The Regulations require all signs to conform to specified provisions of British Standard 5378 (regulations 5 and 6) and to be kept clean and free from obstruction (regulation 7). The Regulations make the fire authority the enforcing authority for the marking requirements, except in specified circumstances when it is the Health and Safety Executive. The Regulations provide that the enforcing authority for the notification requirements is to be ascertained in accordance with the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1989 (regulation 8). The Regulations provide for the issue of certificates of exemption by the Executive (regulation 9). There are transitional provisions in the Regulations specifying the 1st October 1990 as the date by which a notification of an existing site must be made, and the 1st March 1993 as the date from which directions for location marking must be complied with (regulation 10). The Regulations repeal provisions of local Acts which empower marking schemes to be established (regulation 11 and Schedule 4). Copies of British Standard 5378 are obtainable from the British Standards Institution , Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, MK14 6LE, and copies of the approved list referred to in the second paragraph of this note are obtainable from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

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 0.69.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.69 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