UK Offence Report

16 Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 6, 7 or 8 above shall be guilty of an…

regulation 16 of The Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996 (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

16 Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 6, 7 or 8 above shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 16?

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 contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 6, 7 or 8 above.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
1 February 1996
In force from
1 March 1996
Extent
E+W+S

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 implement, in Great Britain, the European Parliament and the Council Directive 94/9/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (the ATEX Directive). Subject to certain limited exceptions, references in the Regulations to the Community or a member State include respectively a reference to the EEA or an EEA State, which are defined in regulation 2(1)(b). Part II provides for the application of the Regulations. They apply to equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, devices and components (relevant definitions are contained in regulation 3), other than those excluded by regulation 4 or 5. The Regulations do not apply to the equipment, protective systems or devices specified in Schedule 5 or components for them (regulation 4). Regulation 5 sets out transitional arrangements whereby the Regulations do not apply to equipment or a protective system placed on the market in the Community/EEA on or before 30th June 2003 which complies with the health and safety provisions in respect of it which were in force in Great Britain on 23rd March 1994. Part III sets out the general requirements of the Regulations. Regulation 6 imposes a duty on a “responsible person” (as defined in regulation 2(2)) who places on the market equipment, a protective system or device to ensure that it satisfies the relevant essential health and safety requirements and that the appropriate conformity assessment procedure has been carried out. In addition, the CE marking must be affixed to it by the manufacturer or his authorized representative in the Community/EEA in accordance with Schedule 2. The relevant product must also be safe. Any person, other than the responsible person, who supplies equipment, a protective system or device must ensure that it is safe (regulation 7) although the regulation does not apply to such a product if it has been placed on the Community/EEA market before 1st March 1996 or has previously been put into service in the Community/EEA. Regulation 8 requires a responsible person who places a component on the market to ensure that the appropriate conformity assessment procedure has been carried out and that it is accompanied by a certificate, issued by the manufacturer or his authorized representative established in the Community/EEA, which incorporates the specified declaration and statement. For the purposes of regulations 6 and 8, a product is not to be regarded as being placed on the market where it is for export outside the Community/EEA or is exhibited at a trade fair or exhibition (regulation 9). The essential health and safety requirements (Annex II of the ATEX Directive) are set out in Schedule 3. Regulation 2 defines “relevant essential health and safety requirements”. The conformity assessment procedures are set out in various “Modules” in Annexes III to IX of the ATEX Directive (which are set out in Schedules 6 to 12). The appropriate conformity assessment procedure is determined in accordance with regulation 10, on the basis of the equipment-group (as defined in regulation 2(2)) and the equipment category (as determined by the criteria in Schedule 4) of the product. Regulation 12 provides for the appointment of notified bodies in Great Britain and specifies their functions. Regulation 13 provides for these bodies to charge fees. Regulation 14 sets out the conditions for relevant products being taken to comply with the provisions of the ATEX Directive. Part IV and Schedule 14 make provision for the enforcement of the Regulations by the Health & Safety Executive. In Scotland, proceedings are brought by the procurator-fiscal or Lord Advocate. Regulations 16 and 17 provide for the offences and penalties for breach of the Regulations. There are also provisions relating to the defence of due diligence (regulation 18) and liability of persons other than the principal offender (regulation 19). Certain amendments and disapplications of the law in Great Britain are made by regulations 20 and 21. These include an amendment to The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 which is required in order to incorporate a reference to Commission Directives 91/269/EEC and 94/44/EC which adapted to technical progress Council Directive 82/130/EEC concerning electrical equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres in mines susceptible to firedamp (regulation 20(1)). Regulation 20(2) provides for the disapplication of specified Mine regulations, which are set out in that paragraph and in Schedule 15: the majority of those specified regulations are revoked with effect from 1st July 2003 (regulation 1(2) and Schedule 1). Regulation 21 makes a consequential amendment to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 and provides that these Regulations are to take effect for the purposes of the enforcement of regulation 10 of the 1992 Regulations as if the amendment had been made under section 15 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Schedule 1 also sets out other Regulations which are revoked with effect from 1st July 2003. Schedule 2 also includes provisions relating to inscriptions other than the CE marking. Schedule 13 specifies the content of the EC declaration of conformity. A Compliance Cost Assessment in respect of these Regulations is available and a copy can be obtained from the Department of Trade and Industry, Standards Policy Unit, 3rd floor, 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SS.

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