UK Offence Report

Offences relating to domestic animals and to property

regulation 29(1) of The Gas Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1995 (revoked)

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 Any person who without reasonable excuse contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 7(1) or (2) in so far as it applies to injury or impairment to the health or safety of any domestic animal or damage to any property shall be guilty of an offence under this paragraph and punishable on summary conviction with imprisonment for not more than three months or with

a fine of not more than 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 Any person who without reasonable excuse contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 7(1) or (2) in so far as it applies to injury or impairment to the health or safety of any domestic animal or damage to any property shall be guilty of an offence under this paragraph and punishable on summary co

What would breach regulation 29(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Gas Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1995, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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 (1995-07-18); 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
23 June 1995
In force from
18 July 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.

(This note does not form part of the Regulations) These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Gas Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/711) (the “1992 Regulations”). They implement Council Directive 90/396/EEC (O.J. No. L196, 26.7.1990, p. 15) on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to appliances burning gaseous fuels (“the Gas Appliances Directive”), as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC (O.J. No. L220, 30.8.1993, p. 1) (the “CE Marking Directive”). The 1992 Regulations required the gas appliances and fittings to which they applied to conform with the essential requirements detailed in Schedule 3 and to be safe when normally used. Series-manufactured products were also required to undergo EC type-examination together with one of a number of prescribed options for production control, at the choice of the manufacturer, conducted by third-party notified bodies (regulations 8, 10–18, 20–23). Single appliances or small numbers may be subject to EC unit verification (regulations 8 and 19). The 1992 Regulations are subject to transitional arrangements which applied until 31st December 1995, in which the manufacturer could choose to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Regulations which implemented the Directive or with the legislative provisions which applied before 1st January 1992 (regulation 4). These Regulations re-enact those requirements (with certain minor amendments) (regulations 4(1)(c) and 4(5), 8 and 23). Second-hand appliances are not covered by these Regulations but they retain in force, for second-hand gas appliances only, the Gas Cooking Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1989 and the Heating Appliances (Fireguard) (Safety) Regulations 1991 (regulation 1(3)). Those provisions of the CE Marking Directive which relate to gas appliances are implemented for the first time by these Regulations as follows— a provision is made to require manufacturers choosing the production monitoring procedures described as EC verification and EC unit verification to ensure and make a declaration to the effect that the appliance conforms with the Directive (an EC Declaration of Conformity) (EC verification or EC unit verification) (regulations 17 and 18); b the appliance category is required on the appliance or data plate to accompany the CE Marking (regulation 25(1)); c other markings on the product likely to deceive third parties as to the meaning and form of CE Marking are prohibited (regulation 25(2)); d during the transitional period of any Directives which might apply, the accompanying documentation must state which Directives have been applied (regulation 26(2)); e the issuing of a compliance notice is provided for in respect of gas appliances to which the CE Marking has been unduly affixed, save where the gas appliance in question is likely to damage the health or safety of any person (regulation 27); f the CE Marking is redefined, to be followed by the identification number of the notified body involved in the production control phase (Schedule 2). The Regulations come into force on 18th July 1995 but they do not apply to any gas appliances which are placed on the market before 1st January 1997 and which comply with the provisions of the 1992 Regulations (regulation 4(4)). A Compliance Cost Assessment in respect of these Regulations is available and a copy can be obtained from the Consumer Affairs Division of the Department of Trade and Industry, 4.E.6 , 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET. A copy has also been placed in the Library of both Houses of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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”; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
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