UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail Regulations 1996

the instrument as a whole of The Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail Regulations 1996

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail Regulations 1996.

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
8 August 1996
In force from
1 September 1996
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 implement Council Directive 96/49/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail insofar as it relates to radioactive material and make provision for the carriage by rail of radioactive material. The terms and expressions used in the Regulations are defined in regulation 1 and the scope of the Regulations is defined in regulation 2. The Regulations— require the approval and publication by the Health and Safety Commission of “Approved Requirements for the Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail”, and set out duties on specified persons to comply with applicable provisions of that document (regulations 3 and 4); require approval by the Secretary of State (or, in certain circumstances, other competent authority) of the design of specified types and packages and of certain shipments of radioactive material before that material can be carried (regulations 5–11); require specified persons to establish and maintain adequate quality assurance programmes, and permit the Secretary of State to require additional testing of any package of special form radioactive material (regulations 12 and 13); require the allocation, notification to the Secretary of State and registration of unique serial numbers for packaging (regulation 14); impose requirements for package inspection, proof of package design approval and notification of specified shipments prior to shipment (regulations 15 and 16 and schedules 8–10); impose prohibitions and restrictions on the carriage of radioactive material including prohibitions and restrictions relating to— the suitability of freight containers, tank containers, tank wagons and wagons, contents limits of packages, Transport Index limits, activity limits, radiation level limits and contamination level limits (regulation 17–23); impose restrictions on the carriage of radioactive material in tanks, prohibit the overfilling with radioactive material of tank containers and tank wagons and require the openings in any tank container or tank wagon and any valves and caps to be securely closed prior to and during carriage (regulation 24–26); impose prohibitions and restrictions on the carriage of radioactive material in bulk (regulation 27); prohibit the carriage of specified mixed or inadequately segregated loads, and impose requirements in relation to the loading, stowage and unloading of radioactive material (regulations 28 and 29 and schedule 12); impose requirements to ensure the safe carriage and security of radioactive material and to prevent fire, explosion or leakage during carriage (regulations 30 and 32); require train operators to ensure the safe marshalling and formation of trains carrying radioactive material (regulation 31); require train operators, facility owners and infrastructure controllers to draw up emergency arrangements and to co-operate with each other to ensure effective co-ordination of those arrangements (regulation 33); require specified information to be displayed on any package, overpack, freight container, tank container, tank wagon or wagon used for the carriage of radioactive material and impose duties in relation to that display (regulation 34); require— the consignor to be in possession of, and make available for inspection by the operator, all certificates of approval and to be in possession of a set of instructions concerning preparations for shipment, and Carriage Information to be provided to operators of freight containers, tank containers, tank wagons and wagons, train operators and infrastructure controllers prior to carriage and for that information and other specified information to be kept (regulations 35–38); require train crew members and employees of infrastructure controllers who have responsibilities in connection with the carriage of radioactive material to receive adequate information, instruction and records of that training to be kept and made available to trainees (regulation 39); require the Secretary of State to make provision for periodic assessment of radioactive emissions arising from the carriage of radioactive material (regulation 40); permit the granting of exemptions by the Health and Safety Executive or the Secretary of State for Defence in given circumstances (regulation 41); and provide a defence to the Regulations, allow alternative compliance with specified international provisions, where those provisions apply to a matter to which these Regulations apply, and provide a transitional defence (regulations 42–44). Copies of relevant documents may be obtained as follows— the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road ( “ADR”) (1995 edition) [ISBN 0-11-551265-9], the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail ( “COTIF”), Cmnd. 5897, and the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (1985 edition, as amended 1990) published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1990, Safety Series No. 6 [ISBN 92-0-123890-8] from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; the Approved Requirements for the Packaging, Labelling and Carriage of Radioactive Material by Rail from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 6FS; Dillons; Rymans the Stationer; and all good booksellers; the International Organization for Standardization Document Sealed radioactive sources—Classification[ISO 2919-1980 (E)] and the International Organisation for Standardization document Series 1 Freight Containers—Specifications and Testing—0 Part 1: General Cargo Containers[ISO 1496/1-1978] and the International Organization for Standardization document Sealed Radioactive Sources—Leak Test Methods[ISO/TR 4826-1979 (E)] from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office and the British Standards Institution, British Standards House, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL; the current edition of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code [volumes I to IV ISBN 92-801-1314-3, supplement ISBN 92-801-1316-X] from the International Maritime Organisation, 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] from Civil Aviation Authority, Printing and Publications Service, Greville House, 37 Gratton Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 2BN. A copy of the cost benefit assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, Safety Policy Directorate, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.

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