UK Offence Report

Prohibition on marketing gas oil with excessive sulphur content

regulation 2(1) of The Marketing of Gas Oil (Sulphur Content) Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 Subject to paragraph (2) below, any person who markets gas oil whose sulphur content exceeds 0.2% by weight shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 2(1)?

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 markets gas oil whose sulphur content exceeds 0.2% by weight.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Marketing of Gas Oil (Sulphur Content) Regulations 1994.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
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 Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (revoked)
Revoked on
11 March 2002
Made
30 August 1994
In force from
1 October 1994
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 are made to implement, in the United Kingdom, provisions of Council Directive 93/12/EEC in relation to gas oils to which Article 2(2) applies. The Regulations— a make it an offence to market such gas oil if it has a sulphur content exceeding 0.2% by weight (regulation 2); b require local authorities to check by sampling the sulphur content of gas oils which are placed on the market (regulation 3); and c revoke the Oil Fuel (Sulphur Content of Gas Oil) Regulations 1990 and the Oil Fuel (Sulphur Content of Gas Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 (regulation 4). An assessment of the cost to business of complying with these Regulations has been prepared and a copy has been placed in the library of each of the Houses of Parliament. Copies of the assessment may be obtained from the Department of the Environment, Room B3.50, Romney House, 43 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3PY. British Standards publications can be obtained by post from British Standards Institution Customer Services, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, MK14 6LE (Tel. 0908-221166). From 24th October onward a limited range of British Standards publications can be obtained by calling personally, or telephoning, British Standards Institution Customer Services, 389 High Road, Chiswick, London W4 4AJ (Tel. 081-996 9000).

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