UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 15 of The Gas (Calculation of Thermal Energy) 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

15 Any public gas transporter contravening any provision of these Regulations 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 15?

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 Gas (Calculation of Thermal Energy) Regulations 1996.

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 (1996-03-01); 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
27 February 1996
In force from
1 March 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.

The Regulations provide for the number of therms (until 1st January 2000) or kilowatt hours, conveyed by public gas transporters to premises, or to pipe-line systems operated by other public gas transporters, to be calculated on the basis of calorific values of the gas (with adjustments of volumes for temperature and pressure) either determined by, or declared by, the transporter in accordance with the Regulations, except in the cases prescribed by regulation 2(3) (regulations 3, 4 and 7). They provide for the places or premises and the times at which and the manner in which determinations of calorific values are to be made to be such as the Director General of Gas Supply (“the Director”) may direct (regulation 6). Provision is made for making available the results of determinations (regulation 5). They also provide for declarations of calorific values to be made at such times and in such manner as the Director may direct, for securing uniformity of calorific value and for the carrying out of tests of gas by public gas transporters (regulations 8 to 10), and also by persons (“gas examiners”) appointed by the Director under section 13 of the Gas Act 1986 at such places or premises as the Director may direct and for such premises, apparatus and equipment to be provided and maintained for carrying out those tests as the Director may direct (regulation 11). Provision is made for persons representing public gas transporters to be present at the carrying out of tests of apparatus and equipment or of gas by gas examiners (regulation 12), for the publication of their results (regulation 13) and for entry by gas examiners on premises owned or occupied by public gas transporters (regulation 14). Any contravention of the regulations is made an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (now £5,000) (regulation 15). There are provisions in respect of public gas transporters' offices and for saving declarations of calorific value made before the commencement of the Regulations (regulations 16 and 17).

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