UK Offence Report

Punishment of false statement in application or declaration made under regulation 6(1) and (2)

regulation 7(1) of The European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001 (revoked)

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

1 A person who makes

a statement which he knows to be false in an application or declaration required by regulation 6(1) and (2) above is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 7(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person makes a statement which he knows to be false in an application or declaration required by regulation 6(1) and (2) above.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
26 March 2001
In force from
9 April 2001
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 which replace the provisions revoked by regulation 2 provide for the registration of those citizens of the European Union who are resident here (and are not Commonwealth citizens or citizens of the Republic of Ireland) as European Parliamentary electors. Together with those parts of the European Parliamentary Elections (Changes to the Franchise and Qualification of Representatives) Regulations 1994 which are not revoked, these Regulations give effect to Article 19.2 (ex Article 8b.2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community and the requirements of the directive of the Council of the European Communities No. 93/109/EC. References in this note to articles are to articles in that Directive. These Regulations are needed in consequence of the changes made by the Representation of the People Act 2000 to the system of the registration of parliamentary and local government electors. That Act removed the requirement for residence on a qualifying date for inclusion in a register of electors which had effect for one year. It replaced it with a system of registration under which the registers of electors have continuing effect, subject to amendment. The provisions revoked by regulation 2 of these Regulations were based on the system of registration replaced by the 2000 Act. Regulation 3 sets out the franchise. Regulation 4 sets out the grounds under which a citizen of the Union of the sort described above (“relevant citizen of the Union”) can be registered as an elector. These provisions are based on sections 1 and 4 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, as substituted by the 2000 Act. Regulation 5 provides for registration officers and requires the register of electors under these Regulations to be combined, so far as practicable, with the registers of parliamentary and local government electors. In order to comply with article 9.2 of the directive, regulation 6(2) requires a person applying to be registered under these Regulations to include a declaration made in accordance with regulation 6(2). Regulation 8 requires the registration officer to supply to the Secretary of State a copy of each application to be registered and declaration when the application is made at a time that would allow the applicant to vote in a European Parliamentary general election. This is included to enable the United Kingdom Government to discharge its obligations under article 13 of the Directive. Regulation 9 applies, with modifications, for the purposes of these Regulations various provisions in the 1983 Act (as amended) and regulations made under that Act about the registration of parliamentary and local government electors. Those provisions are set out in the Schedule to the Regulations. So as to give effect to article 11.2 of the directive, the provisions applied include those conferring a right of appeal in respect of a decision by the registration officer relating to registration.

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 0.92.

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