UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 16 of The Nitrate Sensitive Areas Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

16 If any person, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person any aid under these Regulations, knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false in

a material particular, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 16?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Nitrate Sensitive Areas Regulations 1994.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1994-07-26); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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 Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 (revoked)
Made
1 July 1994
In force from
26 July 1994
Extent
E

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, which comply with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p.85) on agricultural methods compatible with the requirements of protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside (“the Agri-environmental Regulation”), allow the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (“the Minister”) to make payments of aid to farmers in nitrate sensitive areas (regulation 3). Rates of payments are in Schedule 6. The nitrate sensitive areas are defined by reference to maps deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR (regulation 2 and Schedule 1). To be eligible for a payment under the Regulations, a farmer must give undertakings relating to the land to the Minister for a period of 5 years—(regulation 7(4)). Schedule 2 sets out undertakings the farmer must give in all cases. Schedules 3 to 5 set out additional undertakings the farmer must give to be eligible for payments under each of three schemes. The Minister may vary the terms of the undertakings in individual cases provided she is satisfied the requirements imposed remain compatible with the Agri-environmental Regulation (regulation 14). The Regulations also contain provisions relating to: eligibility and applications (regulations 4 to 6); restrictions on acceptance of applications (regulation 8); monitoring of compliance by farmers with the undertakings they have given and of the effectiveness of the schemes (regulation 9); claims for payment (regulation 10); the circumstances in which a farmer may change from one scheme to another, and the effect of such a change (regulation 12 and Schedule 7); the consequences of the death of the farmer or changes in occupation of the land subject to the undertakings given by the farmer (regulation 13); penalties where false statements are made, and where there is a breach of the Regulations or of the undertakings given under them (regulations 13(5) and (6), 15 and 16). The Regulations apply to England only.

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 0.92.

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