8 Any person who— a without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed under regulation…

Q: Is regulation 11(8) of The Environmental Protection (Controls on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) Regulations 1996 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

regulation 11(8) of The Environmental Protection (Controls on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) Regulations 1996

Status not determined
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

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

8 Any person who— a without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed under regulation 9(2), or b makes a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular, where the statement is made in purported compliance with a requirement to furnish information imposed under regulation 9(2)(i), commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: making a false or misleading statement
Fault element: Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof: An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

“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: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses reasonable cause to believe, has reason to believe; which element that governs was not determined; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

8 Any person who— a without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed under regulation 9(2), or b makes a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular, where the statement is made in purported compliance with a requirement to furnish information imposed

What would breach regulation 11(8)?

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.

Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Environmental Protection (Controls on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) Regulations 1996.
Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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 March 1996
In force from: 29 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

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, and to Northern Ireland in so far as they relate to importation, make provision in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No. 3093/94 on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The Council Regulation provides for a system that controls— i the production, supply and use of, ii trade in, and iii emission of certain substances (“controlled substances”) that deplete the ozone layer. Member States are required to deal with a number of matters by means of their domestic legislation. With the exception of regulations 4, 8 and 14, these Regulations fulfil this requirement. In particular they— a designate the Secretary of State as the competent authority for the purposes of the Council Regulation (regulation 3); b prohibit and restrict importation, landing and unloading of certain controlled substances (regulation 5); c require persons having control of the controlled substances mentioned in Articles 14 and 15 of the Council Regulation to comply with those provisions (regulation 6); d confer powers on customs officers to detain controlled substances or products imported, landed or unloaded in contravention of regulation 5, or equipment imported in contravention of the Council Regulation (regulation 7); e contain enforcement powers (regulations 9 and 10); and f set out offences and penalties in relation to non-compliance with the Council Regulation or the Regulations (regulations 11 to 13). Regulations 4 and 8 permit the Secretary of State to require controlled substances or products that have been unlawfully imported, landed or unloaded to be disposed of harmlessly or removed from the United Kingdom. Regulation 14 makes certain drafting amendments to the Environmental Protection (Non-Refillable Refrigerant Containers) Regulations 1994.

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 “commits 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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Environmental Protection (Controls on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer) Regulations 1996 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1996