UK Offence Report

Offences and Penalties

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 3 of The Energy Efficiency (Ballasts for Fluorescent Lighting) 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 It shall be an offence to contravene or fail to comply with— regulation 4(1) (suppliers' duties in respect of ballasts); regulation 5 (duties in respect of the declaration of conformity); regulation 6(1), (2), (4) or (5) (duties in respect of technical documentation); regulation 7 (prohibitions in respect of misleading markings); 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

ions, 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.

What would breach paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 3?

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 Efficiency (Ballasts for Fluorescent Lighting) 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
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2002-05-21); 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
3 October 2001
In force from
21 May 2002
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 European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/55 EC on energy efficiency requirements for electric mains-operated ballasts for fluorescent lighting sources as defined in paragraph 3.4 of European Standard EN50294. The Directive specifies minimum standards of energy efficiency (in terms of electricity consumption) which must be met by such ballasts which are placed on the Community market. Regulation 4 prohibits the placing on the Community market of ballasts which exceed the maximum allowable electricity consumption values laid down in Schedule 1; and makes provision for affixing the EC mark illustrated in Schedule 2. Regulation 5 lays down the rules requiring the compulsory EC declaration of conformity relating to a ballast. Regulation 6 requires suppliers to establish and maintain technical documentation to enable assessment of whether the EC mark has been properly affixed to a ballast. Regulation 7 prohibits the affixing to a ballast of misleading markings. Under regulation 8, manufacturers are obliged to bring non-conforming ballasts on the market into conformity or withdraw them from the market as soon as practicable. Regulation 9 obliges manufacturers to take all necessary steps to achieve a manufacturing process which ensures that ballasts comply with their technical documentation and the requirements of the Regulations. Regulation 10 provides that breach of regulation 8 or 9 shall be actionable by civil proceedings. Regulation 11 and Schedule 3 create criminal offences and contain other provisions on enforcement. A Regulatory Impact Assessment, estimating the financial impact of the Regulations on suppliers of ballasts etc., can be obtained from: Energy, Environment and Waste Directorate, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE.

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