UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 5 of The Energy Information (Dishwashers) Regulations 1999

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 It shall be an offence to contravene or fail to comply with– regulation 4 (suppliers' duties in respect of labels); regulation 5 (suppliers' duties in respect of information notices); regulation 8 (suppliers' duties in respect of technical documentation); regulation 9 (dealers' duty in respect of displayed regulated dishwashers); regulation 10 (information in respect of mail order and other distance sales); regulation 11 (misleading information); paragraph

5 of this Schedule (obstruction of authorised officers and false statements); paragraph 8(8) of this Schedule (prohibition of purported search and seizure by unauthorised person); or paragraph 12(1) of this Schedule (restrictions on disclosure of information).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

tions it shall be a defence for that person to show that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence. 3 Where in any proceedings (which in Scotland include the trial diet) against any person for such an offence the defence provided for by sub-paragraph (2) involves an allegation that the commission of the offence was due– a to

What would breach paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 5?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Energy Information (Dishwashers) Regulations 1999.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1999-07-08); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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 Enterprise Act 2002 (Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2003
Revoked on
20 June 2003
Made
11 June 1999
In force from
8 July 1999
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 implement Council Directive 92/75/EEC (on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by household appliances) and Commission Directives 97/17/EC and 99/9/EC (implementing the Council Directive 92/75/EEC with regard to energy labelling of household dishwashers). Dishwashers to which these Regulations apply are those specified in the definition of “regulated dishwasher” in regulation 2, except those excluded by regulation 3(2). Suppliers, as defined in regulation 2, must supply labels (which comply with Schedules 1 and 4) and information notices (which comply with Schedules 2 and 4) about the energy consumption of those regulated dishwashers (regulations 4 and 5). Suppliers are deemed to consent to the publication of the information given on a label or in an information notice (regulation 6). They are responsible for the accuracy of the information (regulation 7) and are required to establish, before the dishwasher is placed on the Community market, technical documentation to enable the accuracy of the information to be assessed (regulation 8). Dealers, as defined in regulation 2, must attach a label to a regulated dishwasher displayed to end-users (regulation 9). Where a regulated dishwasher is for sale by printed communication e.g. mail order or other long distance selling, regulation 10 requires the dealer to provide relevant information as determined in Schedules 3 and 4. Regulation 11 prohibits the display of misleading information about energy consumption of regulated dishwashers. Regulation 12 and Schedule 5 contain provisions on offences, penalties and other matters of enforcement. Regulation 13 makes transitional provision; until 31st July 1999 the Regulations do not apply to the supply or display of regulated dishwashers or to the distribution of any printed communication within the meaning of regulation 10. A Regulatory Impact Assessment, estimating the financial impact of the Regulations on suppliers, dealers and wholesalers of household dishwashers covered by the scheme, can be obtained from: Energy, Environment and Waste Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 3DE.

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 0.90.

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