UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 12 of The Countryside Access Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

12 If any person, for the purposes 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (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, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 12?

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 Countryside Access 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 (1994-09-29); 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 Food and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Revocations) Regulations 2018
Revoked on
1 October 2018
Made
5 September 1994
In force from
29 September 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 implement in part Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p.85) on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements for the protection of the environment and maintenance of the countryside. The Regulations, which apply to England and Wales, provide for the payment of aid to farmers who undertake for five years from 15 January following acceptance of their application to permit members of the public to have access to an area of set-aside land, referred to in the Regulations as the “access area”, for the purposes of quiet recreation, and to manage it in accordance with the requirements set out in the Schedule to the Regulations (regulation 3). Requirements in relation to the access area are set out (regulation 4). Applications for aid must include a map identifying certain details (regulation 5) and restrictions on the acceptance of applications in certain circumstances are set out (regulation 6). Provision is made for a new occupier to receive aid in place of the original occupier upon the Minister’s acceptance of his undertaking to comply with the access obligations undertaken by the original occupier for the remainder of the access period (as defined in regulation 2(1)) (regulation 7). Aid is payable annually in arrears in five instalments and the rates of payment are set out (regulation 8). The Regulations also— a provide for an obligation to permit entry and inspection (regulation 10); b provide for withholding and recovery of aid and termination (regulation 11); c create an offence, punishable on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, of knowingly or recklessly making a false statement in order to obtain aid (regulation 12).

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