UK Offence Report

Exception as to liability

regulation 39 of The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998

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

39 No person shall be guilty of an offence by reason of contravention of regulation 3(2) or (6), 5(1), 7(3), 15, 16(2) or (3), 17(1), 27(5), 30 (insofar as it relates to the installation of a gas fire, other gas space heater or a gas water heater of more than 14 kilowatt gross heat input), 33(1), 35 or 36 of these Regulations in any case in which he can show that he took all reasonable steps to prevent that contravention.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 39?

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 Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, 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
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 1998
In force from
31 October 1998
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 re-enact, with amendments, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1994, as amended by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use)(Amendment) Regulations 1996 and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use)(Amendment)(No 2) Regulations 1996 (“the 1994 Regulations”). The 1994 Regulations made provision in respect of the installation and use of gas fittings for the purpose of protecting the public from dangers arising from the distribution, supply or use of gas. In addition to minor and drafting amendments, these Regulations make the following changes. The Regulations:— limit the application of the Regulations by excluding hydrogen used in non-domestic premises from the definition of “gas” (regulation 2(1)); add a definition of “appropriate fitting” and amend the definitions of “installation pipework”, “room sealed appliance”, “service pipe” and “work” (regulation 2(1)); are extended to vessels not requiring a national or international load line certificate when used primarily for domestic or residential purposes (regulation 2(5)(c)(iii)); are disapplied in respect of control devices on gas appliances in certain circumstances (regulation 2(6)(c)); are disapplied in part in respect of— the formal training of gas fitters (regulation 2(7)); and the formal assessment of gas fitters for purposes of accreditation (regulation 2(8)); extend the duty to ensure the competence of gas fitters to employers and self-employed persons having control of the work or who require the carrying out of that work (regulation 3(2)); make provision for the competence of gas installers and the safe installation of fittings and flues when carrying out work in a factory in relation to vehicles, vessels or caravans (regulation 3(8); extend to any employer or self-employed person who has a degree of control over work in relation to a gas fitting the duty to ensure that such work, when carried out at a place of work, is carried out by an employee of, or self-employed person who is, a member of an approved class of persons (regulation 4); restrict the premises to which alterations are prohibited to those in which a gas appliance or gas storage vessel is fitted (regulation 8(1)); extend to cases where a meter is relocated the requirement to display a notice identifying the nearest upstream emergency control (regulation 15(2)); extend the duty to provide a notice where there is more than one primary meter to any person who makes a material modification (regulation 16(2)); require a line diagram to be displayed and, in specified cases, amended where gas is provided to a secondary meter (regulation 17); modify the requirements in relation to enclosed pipes (regulation 19(2)) and disapply the prohibition on the installation of pipework in cavity walls in respect of “living flame effect gas fires” (as defined) (regulation 19(4)); disapply the requirement for specified safety checks in specified circumstances (regulation 26(10); extend the meaning of “room” for the purposes of regulation 30 (regulation 30(4)); extend the prohibition on the use of gas appliances to circumstances where they may constitute a danger to any person (regulation 34(1)); amend the definition of “relevant gas fitting” for the purpose of regulation 36 (regulation 36(1)); make further provision with regard to safety checks in rented accommodation (regulation 36(3)(a) and (b) and to the display and provision of records (regulation 36(7) and (8)); extend the duty imposed on suppliers in cases of escape of gas to the escape of carbon monoxide gas and modify the duty of suppliers in relation thereto (regulation 37(8)). The Regulations also contain new provisions which:— require a person who breaks a regulator seal to apply a new seal (regulation 14(7)); require the outlet of the emergency control to be sealed when a primary meter is removed (regulation 16(3)(a)(ii)) and notice to be given to the supplier when such removal is proposed (regulation 16(4)); prohibit the installation of a flue otherwise than in a safe position (regulation 27(5)); impose restrictions in relation to the installation of instantaneous water heaters (regulation 30(3); extend to flues the employer’s duty of maintenance (regulation 35); provide that specified gas fittings shall not be fitted in specified accommodation (regulation 36(11) and (12)); impose requirements on consumers of gas in circumstances liable to cause pressure fluctuation or the introduction of extraneous substances into the gas supply (regulation 38). The Regulations revoke the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1994, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1996; the Regulations make minor amendments to Schedule 2B of the Gas Act 1986 (regulation 41). These Regulations were notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with Directive 83/189/EEC (1983 O.J. L109/8) (as amended). A copy of the summary cost benefit prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, Economic Adviser’s Unit, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House 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.

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