UK Offence Report

Power to require attendance of witnesses and to order recovery of documents

regulation 30(4) of The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 1993

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

4 Any notice given under paragraph (1) shall contain

a reference to the provisions of section 82(3) of the Act (by which any person who fails to comply with any such notice shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

1 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 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 30(4)?

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 any such notice.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 1993 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
Standard scale
Level 1
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
Status not determined
Made
19 February 1993
In force from
1 April 1993
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.

The council tax and the council water charge become payable in respect of dwellings in Scotland as from 1st April 1993. These Regulations make provision for the circumstances in which council tax valuation lists can be altered after that date and for the procedures for making proposals for such alterations and for appeals when there are disagreements about proposals. The Regulations also set down procedures for appeals relating to the council tax and the council water charge on matters other than the alteration of a list. Part II deals with restrictions on the alteration of a valuation band shown on a list (regulation 4), proposals for alterations (regulations 5 and 6), the procedure following the making of such proposals (regulations 7 to 15), the manner in which the assessor is to notify persons of alterations made to a list (regulation 16) and the dates from which alterations are to have effect (regulations 17 to 19). Part III makes provision as to initiating appeals which do not concern list alterations. Regulation 21 prescribes grounds on which appeals cannot be taken under these Regulations. There are provisions on appeals against levying authority decisions and calculations (regulation 22), against the imposition of penalties (regulation 23) and against completion notices (regulation 24). Part IV sets down the procedures to be followed before valuation appeal committees, both as regards appeals deriving from proposals for list alterations and as regards the types of appeal dealt with in Part III. Provision is made for procedures prior to, or instead of, a hearing (regulations 26 to 30), for procedures at a hearing (regulations 31 to 35) and for how decisions are to be given, and orders made, by a committee (regulations 36 and 37).

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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