UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (Classification, Packaging and Labelling)…

the instrument as a whole of The Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (Classification, Packaging and Labelling) Regulations 1994

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (Classification, Packaging and Labelling) Regulations 1994.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
9 March 1994
In force from
1 April 1994
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.

These Regulations impose requirements and prohibitions in relation to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous goods for carriage by road or on a railway. The Regulations— a require the approval and publication of documents entitled the “Information Approved for the Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Goods for Carriage by Road and Rail” (“the approved carriage list”) and “Approved Methods for the Classification and Packaging of Dangerous Goods for Carriage by Road and Rail”, describe what each document shall contain and provide for the revision thereof (regulation 4; b prohibit the consignment of dangerous goods unless the classification for the goods and specified particulars have been ascertained in accordance with regulation 5 (regulation 5 and Schedules 1 and 2); c i prohibit a consignor from consigning dangerous goods in packages unless they are suitable for the purpose and comply with specified requirements (regulation 6(1)), ii require packagings to be used and marked in accordance with specified requirements (regulation 6(2)), and iii provide for packagings to be exempted from the requirements specified in regulation 6(1)(e) if they meet any of the designated criteria (regulation 6(3) and Schedule 3); d prohibit the marking of any packagings— i with a mark which is liable to be confused with an ADR, RID, UN or joint ADR and RID mark, ii with an ADR, RID, UN or joint ADR and RID mark except in accordance with specified requirements (regulation 7); e prohibit a consignor from consigning dangerous goods in a package unless specified particulars are shown on the package (regulation 8); f provide for certain derogations where a package would otherwise be required to show the particulars required by both regulation 9 of the supply Regulations and regulation 8 (regulation 9); g provide for certain derogations where a package would otherwise be required to show the particulars required by regulation 9 of the supply Regulations but is excepted from showing the particulars required by regulation 8 because it shows the particulars required by specified transport rules (regulation 10); h provide for the methods of marking or labelling packages with the particulars referred to in regulations 8 to 10 (regulation 11); i provide for the granting of exemptions from the Regulations by the Health and Safety Executive (regulation 12); j provide for a defence for a contravention of the Regulations (regulation 13); k provide for transitional defences in specified circumstances (regulation 14); l provide for consequential amendments (regulation 15 and Schedules 4 to 9). The approved carriage list, the current edition of the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (“ADR”) [ISBN 0 11 551114 8], the current edition of the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (“RID”) [ISBN 0 11 551122 9] and the current edition of the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods [ISBN 9211390427] may be obtained from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; the current edition of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code [Volumes I to IV ISBN 92 801 1243 0, Volume V ISBN 92 801 1248 1] may be obtained from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR and the current edition of the Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air [Doc 9284-AN/905 and supplement] may be obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority, Printing and Publications Services, Greville House, 37 Gratton Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 2BN.

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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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