UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000

the instrument as a whole of The Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000

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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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. Selling the goods under the Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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
Status not determined
Made
2 October 2000
In force from
31 December 2000
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 revoke and re-enact with modifications the Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 1994 which provided for railway operators to prepare safety cases and to submit them for acceptance to the infrastructure controller or to the Health and Safety Executive (“the Executive”). In addition to minor and drafting amendments, the Regulations make the following changes of substance. The Regulations— extend the requirement for safety cases to be accepted by the Executive to every person who operates trains or stations (regulation 5(1)); require an infrastructure controller to make a recommendation to the Executive with regard to the acceptability of a safety case or revision thereto prepared by a train or station operator (regulation 5(4)); in relation to railway infrastructure specified in regulation 3, require an infrastructure controller— to procure from an assessment body (as defined in regulation 2(1)) an assessment of his safety case and of any safety case submitted to him by a train or station operator (regulations 4(2) and 5(3)); to procure from that body a report of that assessment including a recommendation as to whether the safety case should be accepted and whether it is satisfactory for the purposes of regulations 2(4) or 2(5) as the case may be (regulation 4(2) and 5(3)); and to provide a copy of those reports to the Executive (regulations 4(3) and 5(4)); apply the requirements referred to in paragraph (c) above also in respect of revisions to safety cases (regulation 7(10)); confer upon the Executive— a duty to notify its determination as to acceptance of a safety case or revision to the person who has made that safety case or revision and, where different, to the infrastructure controller (regulations 4(4), 5(7) and 7(7)); a power to direct an infrastructure controller to scrutinise an operator’s safety case and to make a recommendation upon it (regulation 5(8)); a power to require a review of a safety case (regulation 6); and a power to direct that a revision be made to a safety case (regulation 8); in relation to railway infrastructure specified in regulation 3, require an infrastructure controller to procure from an assessment body at least every 12 months an audit of specified operations and to obtain a report of that audit (regulation 9); extend the duty to co-operate to an assessment body and in respect of the functions to be carried out by such body (regulation 11); require an infrastructure controller to ensure that operators of trains or stations conform with their safety cases (regulation 12) and to notify non-compliance to the Executive in specified circumstances (regulation 13); require safety cases and revisions to be made available for public inspection and require audit reports to be sent to the Executive and other specified persons (regulation 14); and provide for an appeal to the Secretary of State against a refusal by the Executive to accept a safety case or revision and against a direction of the Executive to revise a safety case (regulation 15). The Regulations contain transitional provisions (regulation 16). The Regulations make consequential amendments and revoke the Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 1994 (regulation 18). A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Railways Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Zone 3/29 Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR. 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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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