UK Offence Report

SCHEDULE 3

SCHEDULE 3 of The Special Waste 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

10 In subsection (2) of section 62, any reference to the treatment, keeping or disposal of special waste shall include

a reference to submitting special waste to any of the operations listed in Part III or IV of this Schedule. .

b In paragraph 13(1) of Part I after “(dealers or brokers),”, insert “and producers of special waste,”.

c At the end of paragraph 14(1)(b) of Part I add “or, in the case of special waste, to

a previous holder; and for this purpose “holder”, in respect of any such waste, means the producer or the person in possession of it”.

d After paragraph 14(1) of Part I insert— 1A Where special waste is recovered or disposed of by an establishment or undertaking, it shall keep

a record of the carrying out and supervision of the operation and, in the case of

a disposal operation, of the after-care of the disposal site.

e At the end of paragraph

14 of Part I add—

4 Subject to sub-paragraph (5) below, it shall be an offence for an establishment or undertaking to fail to comply with any of the foregoing provisions of this paragraph insofar as that provision imposes any requirement or obligation upon it.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 previous holder
Conduct
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses intentionally, recklessly - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach SCHEDULE 3?

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. On these words it is an offence to fail to comply with any of the foregoing provisions of this paragraph insofar as that provision imposes any requirement or obligation upon it.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Special Waste Regulations 1996.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. 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 here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9142 — 09142 - Failure to comply with Special Waste Regulations 1996 (believed to also include some incorrectly mapped offences). That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
28 March 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 provide a new definition of special waste. They make provision for handling such waste and for implementing Council Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste (OJ No. L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20,) (“the Directive”). Regulation 2 defines special waste, making reference to Parts I, II and III of Schedule 2. This is to implement the definition of hazardous waste in the Directive and in particular in the List annexed to Council Decision 94/904/EC (OJ No. L. 356, 31.12.94, p.14). The definition extends, in accordance with Article 4 of the Directive, to certain other waste considered by the United Kingdom to display particular hazardous properties. Household waste is excluded from the definition. Regulation 4 requires the Environment Agency (in relation to England and Wales) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (in relation to Scotland) (“the Agencies”), to give unique codes to be applied to consignments of waste or to carrier’s rounds. Carrier’s rounds consist of several consignments collected on the same journey and delivered to one place. The codes are to be shown, together with other required information, on consignment notes which are to accompany the waste when transported. Regulations 5 to 10 and 12 and 13 and Schedule 1 provide for the completion and handling of these notes and for pre-notification to the Agency of the consignment or round. Completion of such identification forms and their transport with waste are required by Article 5 of the Directive. The pre-notification provisions (regulations 5(2)(b), 8(2)(a)(ii) and 12) are not implementing specific Community obligations. Regulation 11 requires the Agencies to provide certain information to one another, following notification, where waste is to be transported from England and Wales to Scotland or vice versa. Regulation 14 requires the Agencies to charge fees on supplying a code under regulation 4. The amount is generally £15 per consignment or round and £10 where the waste consists entirely of lead acid batteries. Rounds of low quantity fulfilling certain conditions attract no fees. Regulations 11 and 14 do not implement Community obligations. Regulation 15 implements Article 4.3 of the Directive on the keeping of records by those consigning and carrying hazardous waste. They are both required to keep the documents for three years, although the Directive only requires carriers to keep records for at least twelve months. Together with regulation 16, it also implements the requirements of Article 2.1 of the Directive on the keeping of records for sites where hazardous waste is deposited. Regulation 17 prohibits the mixing of special waste with other waste or other categories of special waste except where this is authorised under, or exempted from the effect of, certain other waste management legislation. This regulation is to implement Articles 2.2 and 2.3 of the Directive. Regulation 18 makes failure to comply with the Regulations a criminal offence except for an Agency member, officer or employee. There is a defence for those who take certain steps in cases of emergency or grave danger. The Agencies are made responsible by regulation 19 for supervising activities and persons subject to the Regulations. Insofar as they relate to provisions which implement Community obligations (as stated in this Note), these provisions are part of that implementation because their purpose is to make the implementation effective. Regulation 20 makes transitional provision for applications for certificates of technical competence under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/1056 as amended) where such applications were made before 1st March 1997 where the applicant was licensed to deal with special waste before the change in definition made by these Regulations. This provision does not implement a Community obligation. Regulations 21 to 26 and Schedule 3 make consequential amendments to, and revocations and saving in respect of, other legislation. Regulation 21 makes consequential amendment to regulations implementing Directive 85/337/EEC. Regulation 25 makes consequential amendment to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. Parts of those Regulations, in particular Schedule 4, implement Community obligations. Regulations 22, 23, 24 and 26 do not implement Community obligations. A compliance cost assessment in respect of these Regulations may be obtained from Waste Policy Division (Branch 3), Department of the Environment, Room A 231, Romney House, 43 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3PY. A copy has been placed in the library of each of the Houses of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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