Contravention of The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992

Revoked
Strict liability
Set by another provision
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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 Genetically Modified Organisms(Contained Use) Regulations 2000
Revoked on: 15 November 2000
Made: 15 December 1992
In force from: 1 February 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

These Regulations implement as regards Great Britain Council Directive 90/219/ EEC (OJ No. L117, 8.5.90, p.1) on the contained use of genetically modified microorganisms. The Regulations supersede the Genetic Manipulation Regulations 1989 (“the 1989 Regulations”) insofar as those Regulations related to the contained use of genetically modified organisms. Those parts of the 1989 Regulations which related to the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms will be superseded by Regulations to be made by the Department of the Environment. The 1989 Regulations are revoked by these Regulations. These Regulations have effect with a view to protecting persons and the environment from risks arising from activities involving the contained use of genetically modified organisms. In addition to defining the terms used and the scope of the Regulations, this Part extends the meaning of “work” in Part I of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to include any activity involving the contained use of genetically modified organisms. This Part of the Regulations prohibits the use of premises for activities involving the contained use of genetically modified organisms for the first time and also individual activities involving the contained use of those organisms unless a suitable risk assessment has been made. Provision is also made for prior notification of such first use of premises or individual activities to the Health and Safety Executive (“the Executive”) and in certain specified cases the first use of premises for the activity concerned can only be commenced with the Executive’s consent. This Part also provides for the establishment of a genetic modification safety committee to advise the notifier in relation to any risk assessment required under the Regulations. The regulations in this Part specify standards of occupational and environmental safety required for the conduct of activities involving the contained use of genetically modified organisms and the preparation of emergency plans where in the case of an accident there is a foreseeable risk to the health of persons outside the premises in which the activity is carried on or to the environment. Notification is also required to the Executive where an accident occurs. This Part specifies the circumstances in which information provided to the Executive is to be disclosed and also provides for a public register of notifications requiring consent to be kept. The regulations in this Part impose duties on the Executive to examine notifications received and send particulars notified to the Secretary of State for the Environment. The Executive is also required to send to the European Commission reports of notifications for which a consent is required. This Part provides for, in certain circumstances, exemptions from the Regulations to be granted by the Executive, for enforcement and for fees to be charged by the Executive in relation to notifications. It also contains transitional provisions relating to notifications made under the 1989 Regulations so that they continue to have effect and extends the provisions of the Regulations to offshore.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Genetically Modified Organisms Commons · 27 January 1993
That the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992 (S.I., 1992, No. 3217) be referred to a Standing Committee on Statutory Instruments &c.

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 0.70.

Basis: the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence: 0.70 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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 1992 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1992