UK Offence Report

Restriction on disclosure of information

regulation 23(4) of The Airports (Groundhandling) Regulations 1997

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

4 Any person who discloses any information in contravention of this regulation shall be guilty of 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 23(4)?

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 an offence is committed where a person discloses any information in contravention of this regulation.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Airports (Groundhandling) Regulations 1997, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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.

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
3 October 1997
In force from
Not determined
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 implement Council Directive 96/67/EC of 15 October 1996 on access to the groundhandling market at Community airports (O.J. No. L 272, 25.10.96, p.36). The principal provisions are as follows. The managing body of an airport is required to set up a committee of airport users and to organise a consultation relating to the application of the Regulations at least once a year (regulations 6 and 7). The managing body of a category A, category B or category C airport (these categories of airport are defined in regulation 2) is required to ensure that airport users at the airport have the freedom to self-handle; the managing bodies of other airports must also allow their airport users to self-handle, but only in relation to groundhandling services which are not airside services (these services are also defined in regulation 2) (regulation 8(b)). The managing body of a category A or category B airport is required to ensure free access by suppliers of groundhandling services to the third party groundhandling market at the airport (regulation 8(a)). The Civil Aviation Authority (“the CAA”) may limit the number of airport users who have the right to self-handle in relation to airside services at an airport to no fewer than two for each category of such services and, where it does so, it is also responsible for choosing the airport users who may exercise that right (regulation 9). The CAA may limit the number of suppliers of airside services at an airport to no fewer than two for each category of such services (regulation 10). With the approval of the Commission of the European Communities, the CAA may further limit the rights to supply groundhandling services and self-handle at an airport where certain constraints at the airport make it impossible to open up the market for the supply of groundhandling services or, as the case may be, to implement self-handling to the degree provided for in the Regulations (regulation 11). The Regulations lay down a procedure for the selection of suppliers authorised to provide groundhandling services where the CAA has set a limit on the number of such suppliers in accordance with the Regulations (regulation 12). The CAA may reserve for the managing body of an airport or another person the management of centralised infrastructures used for the supply of groundhandling services (regulation 14). Where a supplier of groundhandling services or a self-handling airport user has failed to comply with a rule imposed upon him to ensure the proper functioning of an airport, the CAA may prohibit that person from supplying groundhandling services or self-handling for such period as the CAA thinks fit (regulation 15). The managing bodies of airports and others are required to ensure that suppliers of groundhandling services and self-handling airport users have the necessary access to airport installations (regulation 16). Suppliers of groundhandling services and managing bodies of airports and airport users who supply groundhandling services are required to separate the accounts of their groundhandling activities from the accounts of their other activities (regulation 17). The managing body of an airport may not cause or permit its groundhandling activities to be subsidised from the revenue it derives from its role as airport authority (regulation 17). The CAA is required to appoint an independent examiner to check that the requirements referred to in paragraphs 11 and 12 above are complied with (regulation 18). The Secretary of State has powers to suspend the obligations arising from these Regulations in respect of suppliers of groundhandling services and airport users from third countries (regulation 19). There is a right of appeal to the CAA against certain decisions or individual measures taken by the managing body of an airport and others (regulation 20). There is a right of appeal to the Secretary of State against certain determinations made by the CAA pursuant to the Regulations (regulation 20).

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 0.92.

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