UK Offence Report

2 A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(a) above shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine…

regulation 19(2) of The Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001

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

2 A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1)(a) above shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 19(2)?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
3 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2001-05-31); 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
Status not determined
Made
8 May 2001
In force from
31 May 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 implement Council Directive 92/43 of May 21, 1992 (O.J. 1992, L206/7) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora and Council Directive 79/409 of April 2, 1979 (O.J. 1979, L103/1) on the conservation of wild birds, in relation to oil and gas activities carried out wholly or partly on the UK continental shelf. Regulations have already been made (the Conservation (Natural Habitats,&c) Regulations 1994, S.I. 1994/2716, amended by the Conservation (Natural Habitats,&c) (Amendment) Regulations 2000, S.I. 2000/192) which implement the Directive in relation to activities carried out onshore and in territorial waters. Regulation 2 deals with definitions. Regulation 3 requires the Secretary of State to exercise functions consistently with the requirements of the Directives. Regulation 4 requires consent to be obtained for certain geological surveys. Regulation 5 provides for appropriate assessment of the effects of certain oil and gas activities where the activity is likely to have a significant effect on a relevant site. Regulation 6 provides for derogation from regulation 5. Regulation 7 requires the Secretary of State to give directions in the circumstances set out, in order to avoid, reverse, reduce or eliminate adverse effects on relevant sites, or deterioration or disturbance of certain natural habitats or species. Regulations 8 and 9 confer a right to request a review of directions given under regulation 7 and a right of appeal to a court against any such direction. Regulations 10 to 12 provide for the protection of certain creatures, birds and plants. Regulation 13 makes provision to protect lawful activities. Regulations 14 and 15 provide for derogations from regulations 10 and 11. Regulations 16, 17 and 18 prohibit certain methods of capturing or killing in the circumstances set out in each regulation. Regulation 19 creates offences and provides for penalties. Regulations 20 and 21 deal with service of documents. These Regulations come into force on 31st May 2001. 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 5098). Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses 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.

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 0.68.

Basis
the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.68 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