UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Nuclear Generating Stations (Security) Regulations 1996

the instrument as a whole of The Nuclear Generating Stations (Security) Regulations 1996

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Nuclear Generating Stations (Security) Regulations 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003
Revoked on
22 March 2003
Made
7 March 1996
In force from
1 April 1996
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations impose certain requirements with respect to the security of generating stations which are nuclear installations requiring a licence under section 1 of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (“the 1965 Act”), and of laboratories which are such nuclear installations, and which are used for the examination of irradiated nuclear fuel by, or on behalf of, the operator of such a generating station for purposes connected with operating it. The Regulations cease to apply to such generating stations and laboratories when there ceases to be either any nuclear fuel kept on the site or any proposal to keep nuclear fuel on the site. They cease to apply in relation to any particular operator of a generating station or laboratory when that operator’s “period of responsibility” under the 1965 Act comes to an end (i.e. when the operator ceases to be subject to a duty under section 7(1) of the 1965 Act in respect of the consequences of any possible occurrence on the site); but they do not cease to apply merely by virtue of the surrender or revocation of a nuclear site licence. Regulation 3 requires the operator to submit a security plan in respect of the site for the approval of the Secretary of State, and to make such amendments to that security plan as may be required in order to enable such approval to be given. Regulation 4(1) requires the operator to ensure that, at all times while any nuclear fuel is on the site, the site is subject to a security regime which conforms to a security plan approved by the Secretary of State. For this purpose, a “security plan” means a description of the security standards, procedures and arrangements adopted by the operator for the protection of the site. (This requirement does not apply until three months after the date on which the security plan is approved.) The operator is also required (by regulation 8(1)) to take all reasonable steps to secure that no nuclear fuel is transported to or from the site except in accordance with an approved security plan. (Again, this requirement does not apply until three months after the date on which the security plan is approved.) Regulation 5 requires the operator to comply with such directions with respect to the security of the site, or of nuclear fuel in transit to or from the site, as may from time to time be given by the Secretary of State, requiring the operator, inter alia, to adopt certain security standards, procedures or arrangements specified in such directions. Regulation 6 requires the operator to have security assessments carried out periodically by a person approved for this purpose by the Secretary of State, and to submit such assessments to the Secretary of State. Before bringing nuclear fuel onto the site of a new generating station or laboratory, the operator is required to have an assessment of the security regime that will be in place when nuclear fuel is first brought onto the site carried out by a person approved for this purpose by the Secretary of State. A similar requirement applies before carrying out any work of alteration or extension to any construction which is, or is part of, a generating station or laboratory (regulation 7(2)). Regulation 7 also requires the operator, before carrying out any alteration or extension to a generating station or laboratory, to satisfy the Secretary of State that the security regime to which the site will be subject, during the period in which the work is to be carried out and thereafter, will conform to a security plan approved by him. Regulation 9 provides that the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is responsible for the enforcement of these Regulations.

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 0.63.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.63 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