UK Offence Report

Production of passes issued in other member States

regulation 6(2) of The Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992

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

2 In Article

48 of the 1981 Order (production of certificates)—

a after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph— 1A Where

a person upon whom

a demand has been made by

a constable under paragraph (1) and whom the constable believes to be in possession of

a firearm fails—

a to produce

a firearm certificate; or

b to show that he is

a person who, by reason of his place of residence or any other circumstances, is not entitled to be issued with

a document identifying that firearm under any of the provisions which in the other member States correspond to the provisions of this Order for the issue of European firearms passes; or

c to show that he is in possession of the firearm exclusively in connection with the carrying on of activities in respect of which he or the person on whose behalf he has possession of the firearm, is recognised, for the purposes of the law of another member State relating to firearms, as

a collector of firearms or

a body concerned in the cultural or historical aspects of weapons, the constable may demand from that person the production of

a document which has been issued to that person in another member State under any such corresponding provisions, identifies that firearm as

a firearm to which it relates and is valid. ;

b in paragraph (2), after the word “certificate”, in the first place where it occurs, there shall be inserted the words “or document”;

c after paragraph (3) there shall be added the following paragraph—

4 A person who, being in possession of

a firearm, fails to comply with

a demand under paragraph (1A) shall be guilty of an offence. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 6(2)?

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 fails to comply with a demand under paragraph (1A).
  2. Being served with a notice under the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
21 December 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
Extent
N.I.

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 (which are made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972) amend the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 “the 1981 Order”) for the purpose of implementing requirements of Council Directive No. 91/447/EEC (on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons) (O.J. No. L256, 13.9.91, page 51) (“the Directive”). References in this note to categories are references to categories in Annex I to the Directive. Regulation 3defines certain expressions used in the 1981 Order as amended by these Regulations. Regulation 4makes the additional provision in the 1981 Order which is necessary for the purpose of implementing the requirements of Article 6 of the Directive. The weapons and ammunition referred to in the regulation are classified as prohibited weapons and ammunition under Article 6 of the 1981 Order, that is to say, in this instance, weapons and ammunition whose possession, purchase, acquisition, sale or transfer requires the authority of the Secretary of State. The regulation contains an exception for collectors and bodies recognised for the purposes of the law of another member State as being concerned with the cultural and historical aspects of weapons, in light of their general exception under Article 2.2 of the Directive. There is an exception for licensed slaughterers in respect of expanding ammunition for use with a slaughtering instrument. There is also an exception in respect of expanding pistol ammunition for persons whose firearm certificates limit its use for purposes authorised by the Directive (“the authorised purposes”) that is to say use with a slaughtering instrument or for the purposes of sport, the shooting of vermin and, in connection with estate management, other wildlife, competition and target shooting outside competition. Registered firearms dealers whose certificates of registration enable them to do so may acquire such ammunition for sale or transfer to persons who fall within the exception. Regulation 5implements the requirements of Article 1.4 of and Annex II to the Directive by providing for the issue or renewal, on request, of a European Firearms Pass. The regulation also implements Article 7.1 of the Directive, insofar as it requires a resident of Northern Ireland to have the agreement of his domestic authorities to his purchase of a category B firearm, or ammunition for such a firearm, in another member State; it does this by providing for the issue of an authorisation which is referred to as an “Article 7 authority”. In both cases the document in question is to be issued by the Chief Constable to a person who is granted or is the holder of a firearm certificate. However, there is provision also for the issue of an Article 7 authority to a person without a certificate who does not intend to bring the firearm or ammunition in question into the United Kingdom. Regulation 6(1)implements the requirement in Article 12.1 of the Directive that a visitor’s European Firearms Pass should record the authorisation given by the State he is visiting. The effect of regulation 6(1) is that details of a visitor’s firearm certificate are to be entered on his European Firearms Pass, unless he can show that he is not entitled to have such a pass or that he falls wholly within the general exception for collectors and bodies concerned in the cultural and historical aspects of weapons. Regulation 6(2)implements the requirements in Articles 1.4 and 12.1 of the Directive respectively that the visitor is to retain possession of his European Firearms Pass and produce it whenever so required by the authorities. It requires the production of a pass on demand by a constable. Regulation 7implements the requirement in Article 8.2 of the Directive that a resident of Northern Ireland who purchases or acquires a Category C firearm in another member State must inform his own domestic authorities of the transaction, by requiring him to give notice of the transaction to the Chief Constable. There are exceptions if he does not intend to remove the firearm from the member State where the acquisition takes place or if he falls wholly within the general exception for collectors and bodies concerned in the cultural and historical aspects of weapons. Regulation 8sets out the punishments for the new offences created by these regulations. Regulation 9removes any obligation as to confidentiality or secrecy with regard to the disclosure of information which is required to be disclosed in pursuance of the Directive, in particular by Article 13.

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.

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