UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 1996

the instrument as a whole of The Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) 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

61 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982. 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) 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 61 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.

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
4 November 1996
In force from
21 November 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 re-enact the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents) Regulations 1989 with amendments. They give effect to amendments made to Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention and they implement Council Directive 94/56/EC establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents (OJ No. L319, 12.2.94, p.1—corrected by OJ No. L191, 12.8.95, p.39). The principal changes are— a the expression “accident” is defined more narrowly; it no longer includes an incident (regulation 2(1)). b the Regulations apply to civil aviation accidents and incidents; the exclusion of accidents or incidents to which the Air Navigation (Investigation of Air Accidents Involving Civil and Military Aircraft or Installations) Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/1953) may be directed to apply is omitted (regulation 3). c the preclusion of the removal of damaged aircraft is extended to any case where the aircraft is withdrawn from service as a result of a serious incident (regulation 7(1)). d the existing Inspectors of Air Accidents of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport are identified as the investigating body (regulation 8(2)). e accidents and serious incidents must be investigated, including those serious incidents occurring to aircraft not registered in the UK but operated by undertakings established in the UK (regulation 8(3)). f the Chief Inspector is enabled to delegate investigation of an accident or incident to another member State or, in certain cases to a State which is party to the Chicago Convention (regulation 8(5)). g the Chief Inspector is enabled to provide assistance to other member States (regulation 9(4)). h the division of investigations into formal and field investigations is omitted; the procedure to be followed is as determined by the Chief Inspector (regulation 10(1)). i the provisions relating to review boards and to public inquiries are omitted. j where the accident or incident involves a collision between a civil aircraft and a military aircraft or occurs to a civil aircraft using an aerodrome of the armed forces of Her Majesty or another country the investigation excludes matters affecting discipline or internal administration of those forces more appropriately undertaken by those forces (regulation 11(2)). k safety recommendations included in a report are not to create a presumption of blame or liability (regulation 11(5)). l the Inspector’s report of an investigation into an accident or incident must be published (regulation 13). m any undertaking or authority to whom a safety recommendation contained in a report is addressed must take that recommendation into consideration and advise the Secretary of State of the measures taken or intended to be taken to implement it or the reasons why it is not to be implemented by that body (regulation 14). n the preclusion of the disclosure of certain records for purposes other than accident or incident investigation save where the court otherwise orders (regulation 18). A copy of the eighth edition of Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention can be obtained from the CAA, Printing and Publications Service, Greville House, 37 Gratton Road, Cheltenham, Glos., 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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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