UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 15(1) of The Fisheries and Aquaculture Structures (Grants) Regulations 1995

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

1 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining financial assistance for himself or any other person—

a in furnishing any information in purported compliance with

a requirement imposed by or under regulation 4(1) or (2) or 12(5)(a) knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false or misleading in

a material particular; or

b in purported compliance with

a requirement imposed under regulation 12(5)(a) or (c) knowingly or recklessly produces

a document which is false or misleading in

a material particular, he 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 15(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Fisheries and Aquaculture Structures (Grants) Regulations 1995.
  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 (1995-06-22); 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
Status not determined
Made
20 June 1995
In force from
22 June 1995
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 supplement Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3699/93 (OJ No. L346, 31.12.93, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”) which lays down the criteria and arrangements regarding Community structural financial assistance in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the processing and marketing of its products, as read with— a Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 on the tasks of the Structural Funds and their effectiveness and on co-ordination of their activities between themselves and with the operations of the European Investment Bank and other existing financial instruments, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2081/93 (O.J. No. L185, 15.7.88, p.9 and O.J. No. L193, 31.7.93, p.5), b Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4253/88 laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2082/93 (O.J. No. L374, 31.12.88, p.1. and O.J. No. L193, 31.7.93, p.20), c Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2080/93 laying down provisions for implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2052/88 as regards the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (O.J. No. L193, 31.7.93, p.1), d Commission Notice 94/C180 laying down guidelines for global grants or integrated operational programmes for which Member States are invited to submit applications for assistance within the framework of a Community initiative (known as the Pesca initiative) concerning the restructuring of the fisheries sector (O.J. No. 94/C180, 1.7.94, p.1), e Commission Decision 94/638/EC on the adoption of the single programming document for Community structural assistance in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area concerned by Objective 1 in the United Kingdom (O.J. No. L250, 26.9.94, p.56), and f Commission Decision 94/935/EC on the adoption of the Community programme for structural assistance in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the processing and marketing of its products in the United Kingdom (O.J. No. L364, 31.12.94, p.69) (“the Community Acts”). These Regulations provide for and regulate the payment of grants by Ministers towards expenditure in respect of specified types of investments or projects (“relevant operations”) which Ministers have approved for the payment of aid from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance in accordance with the Council Regulation and the Community Acts (“Community aid”) and regulate the payment of Community aid in respect of relevant operations which Ministers have so approved. Relevant operations consist of investments or projects in Great Britain relating to— a aquaculture (Article 11(1) of the Council Regulation); b the construction of protected underwater areas with a view to the development of coastal waters (Article 11(1) of the Council Regulation); c improvement of fishing port facilities (Article 11(1) of the Council Regulation); d processing and marketing of fisheries and aquaculture products (Article 11(1) of the Council Regulation); e promotion of fisheries and aquaculture products (Article 12 of the Council Regulation); f any measure falling within Part IV of Commission Notice 94/C180. In addition relevant operations consist of investments or projects in the United Kingdom in respect of the modernisation of fishing vessels (Article 10(2) of the Council Regulation). These cover— a any investments or projects where modernisation of the vessel takes the form of the acquisition, installation, modification, renewal or replacement of any equipment required for, or installed or used on or in, the vessel (excluding engines or other machinery for propelling the vessel or any items of a structural nature) for the purpose of obtaining for that vessel a fishing vessel certificate under the provisions of the Fishing Vessels (Safety Provisions) Rules 1975 (SI 1975/330), as amended; b as regards any investments or projects relating to other types of vessel modernisation, vessel modernisation measures in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area of Scotland falling within the single programming document for Community structural assistance approved by Commission Decision 94/638/EC. The Regulations lay down a procedure for the making and approval of applications for approval of relevant operations and expenditure (regulations 4 and 5) for the purpose of grant and Community aid (“financial assistance”). Financial assistance is dependent on proof of expenditure incurred and proper execution of the relevant operation (regulation 6). The rate of grant payable by Ministers, being an amount sufficient to enable relevant operations to qualify for Community aid, is specified (regulation 7). Provision is made concerning the method of payment of financial assistance (regulation 8) and Ministers may require undertakings to be given by a person whose application is approved (regulation 9). For a period of three years from the last payment of grant in respect of a relevant operation approved under the Regulations applicants are required to retain certain records (regulation 10). They are required, on request, to give assistance to authorised officers of the Ministers, who are given powers of entry and inspection for specified purposes (regulations 11 to 13) and provision is made for the reduction, withholding and recovery of financial assistance paid in certain circumstances (regulation 14). The Regulations create and make provision in connection with the prosecution of offences in respect of false statements made to obtain financial assistance and failure to comply with requests made by, or the obstruction of, authorised officers in exercise of their powers of entry and inspection and prescribe penalties for such offences (regulations 15 and 16).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same 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