UK Offence Report

Effect of failure to comply with conditions governing use of Community authorisation

regulation 7 of The Goods Vehicles (Community Authorisations) Regulations 1992

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

7 A person who uses

a vehicle in the United Kingdom under

a Community authorisation and, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of that authorisation under the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

in the United Kingdom under a Community authorisation and, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of that authorisation under the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 7?

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 Goods Vehicles (Community Authorisations) Regulations 1992, 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
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
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 Goods Vehicles (Community Licence) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013
Revoked on
27 May 2013
Made
8 December 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
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 give effect in the United Kingdom to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 881/92 of 26th March 1992 (“the EC Regulation”), which establishes a Community-wide authorisation allowing goods vehicles access to the market in the carriage of goods by road between member States. The EC Regulation, which has direct effect in member States, prohibits the carriage of goods by road between member States without Community authorisation (Article 3.1). These Regulations enforce the prohibition by imposing a penalty for breach (regulation 3) and designating competent authorities for the purposes of the EC Regulation (regulation 4). The EC Regulation lays down the conditions for the issue and use of such authorisations. Each member State is to issue a Community authorisation to any haulier established in that State who is entitled to carry out international carriage of goods by road for hire or reward. In Great Britain such entitlement is signified by the issue under section 60 of the Transport Act 1968 of a standard operator’s licence covering both international and national transport operations, and in Northern Ireland by the issue under section 14 of the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 of an operator’s licence covering international transport operations. The Regulations accordingly confer entitle ment to Community authorisation on the basis of the relevant United Kingdom licence (regulation 5). The form of the Community authorisation document is prescribed in the EC Regulation (Article 5.3 and Annex I), as is the period of validity (Article 6) and the grounds for refusal or withdrawal of authorisation (Article 8). The holder of an authorisation must keep the original, and a certified copy must be kept in each goods vehicle being used on a journey of international carriage. These documents must be produced to an authorised inspecting officer on demand (Article 5.3 and 5.4). Regulation 8 designates authorised inspecting officers for this purpose. The Regulations implement the EC Regulation by conferring rights of appeal against refusal or withdrawal of authorisation (regulation 6). They also require a holder to return the authorisation and all certified true copies if it is withdrawn, and to return certified true copies if they are suspended or if the number of vehicles in use is reduced (regulation 9). Provision is made for the automatic transfer of an authorisation in certain circumstances following the death, bankruptcy or incapacity of the holder (regulation 11). Regulations 13 to 15 make consequential amendments to other legislation, as follows: Regulation 13 revises the Goods Vehicles (International Road Haulage Permits) Regulations 1975 to remove the need for permits under the International Road Haulage Permits Act 1975 for journeys to other member States, since under the EC Regulation such journeys require Community authorisation alone. The 1975 Regulations will now apply only to journeys to Austria. Regulation 14 amends section 60 of the Transport Act 1968 so as to exempt any haulier established in another member State or in Northern Ireland from the need to obtain an operator’s licence under that Act to use a goods vehicle for international carriage in Great Britain, since under the EC Regulation he will require a Community authorisation based on obtaining an equivalent qualification in the State where he is established. A haulier established in Northern Ireland will require a Community authorisation issued in that province. Regulation 15 revises the Goods Vehicles (Operators' Licences) (Temporary Use in Great Britain) Regulations 1980 to remove international carriage by hauliers established in other member States or in Northern Ireland from their scope, in view of the general exemption afforded such carriage by the amendment made to the Transport Act 1968 by the preceding regulation.

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