UK Offence Report

1 Subject to paragraph (2) below, a person is guilty of an offence if he— a operates a combustion…

regulation 18(1) of The Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 2001

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 Subject to paragraph (2) below,

a person is guilty of an offence if he—

a operates

a combustion installation without

a permit;

b operates

a combustion installation in breach of the terms of any condition attached to any permit;

c fails to comply with the terms of an enforcement notice or

a prohibition notice;

d fails to supply any information required to be supplied by virtue of regulation

12 above, or by virtue of

a notice served thereunder;

e fails to supply any information required to be supplied by virtue of the terms of any permit granted under these Regulations;

f knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in

a material particular where such

a statement—

i is made in connection with, or for the purposes of, any application for

a permit or the variation of

a permit; or

ii is made for the purposes of satisfying any requirement under these Regulations for the supply of information to the Secretary of State or an inspector appointed pursuant to regulation 13(1) above;

g wilfully obstructs an inspector appointed under regulation 13(1) above; or

h without reasonable excuse fails to comply with an obligation imposed in pursuance of regulation 13(2) above or prevents another person from complying with such

a requirement.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly, wilfully).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, wilfully, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

s an inspector appointed under regulation 13(1) above; or h without reasonable excuse fails to comply with an obligation imposed in pursuance of regulation 13(2) above or prevents another person from complying with such a requirement.

What would breach regulation 18(1)?

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 Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 2001.
  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
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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 Offshore Combustion Installations (Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2013
Revoked on
19 May 2013
Made
18 March 2001
In force from
Not determined
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 are made under section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999. They establish a pollution control regime for the purpose of implementing the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (Council Directive 96/61 EC) in relation to offshore qualifying combustion installations (defined in regulation 2). Regulations have already been made (the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (England & Wales) 2000, S.I. 2000/1973) which implement the Directive in relation to activities carried out onshore as referred to in those Regulations. The Regulations apply in relation to the sea adjacent to England and Wales, to the United Kingdom territorial sea apart from those areas comprised in Scottish controlled waters and to those areas of sea in any area for the time being designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964. Regulation 2 (and Schedule 1 to the Regulations) deals with definitions. Regulation 3 deals with the need for a permit in order to operate a combustion installation covered by the Regulations; regulations 4 to 9 deal with the procedure for granting permits, the content of permits, the publication of the grant of a permit and also make provision for the variation, reconsideration and updating of permit conditions. Provision is made for the revocation, surrender and assignment of permits by regulation 10. Under regulation 11 the Secretary of State is required to maintain a public register of the provisions of permits and of certain information required to be supplied to him under those provisions. Regulation 12 imposes obligations upon operators of combustion installations to provide information to the Secretary of State. Regulations 13 to 16 deal with enforcement and give the Secretary of State power to appoint inspectors, to serve enforcement and prohibition notices and to take further action in the event of a failure to comply with such a notice. Regulation 17 gives a right to appeal to the court against the Secretary of State’s decisions under the Regulations. Regulation 18 creates offences. Regulation 19 deals with the service of notices and other documents. These Regulations come into force on 19th March 2001. After the prescribed date (regulation 2) a permit will be required in order to operate an offshore combustion installation with an input of more than 50 megawatts (regulation 3). An existing qualifying combustion installation (defined in regulation 2) will not require a permit until 30th October 2007 unless, prior to that date, it is subject to a change which is a substantial change in the opinion of the Secretary of State (regulation 3(2)). A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from Oil and Gas Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET (Tel. 020 7215 5151).

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