UK Offence Report

Offences under section 59 of the Act

regulation 19(2) of The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) 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 Paragraph (1) does not apply to

a regulation the breach of which would constitute an offence under section 42(1) of the Act (not fixing

a registration mark as required by virtue of section 23).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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 42(1) of the Act.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated 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
26 February 2001
In force from
21 March 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 revoke and replace regulations 17 to 22 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 and regulations 18 to 23 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1973 and instruments amending those regulations by making new provision in respect of the fixing and lighting of registration plates on vehicles and for the format of registration marks. The principal changes from the revoked provisions are: a The introduction of a mandatory requirement for the use of registration plates conforming to British Standard specification BS AU 145d or an equivalent standard laid down by an EEA State (in this note called “the mandatory plates”) on all vehicles first registered on or after 1st September 2001 and on other vehicles registered on or after 1st January 1973 if an existing plate is replaced. (See regulation 10 and Schedule 2.) b Provision making it lawful (where it would hitherto have been unlawful) for rear plates to be fixed in the space provided on vehicles constructed in accordance with the requirements of relevant EC type-approval directives and to be lit in a manner provided for in those directives. These Regulations implement those directives to that extent. (See regulations 5 and 9.) c Provision for the introduction of a new registration mark format. (See regulation 13 and Schedule 3 Parts 1 and 2.) d The introduction of new mandatory character sizes and a mandatory standard character font (“the prescribed font”) for registration marks on vehicles first registered on or after 1st September 2001 and on other vehicles registered on or after 1st January 1973 if an existing plate is replaced. (See regulations 14 and 15(1), Schedule 3 (Part 3) and Schedule 4.) e As regards registration marks on other vehicles, the prohibition both of fonts which are not substantially the same as the prescribed font and of layouts which make a mark relatively difficult to read or which disguise one character as another or part of another. (See regulation 15(2) and (3).) f The prohibition of plates fitted or treated in such a manner as to obscure or disguise the mark or make it difficult or impossible to photograph. (See regulation 11.) g The making of provision for the display of the international distinguishing sign of the United Kingdom adjacent to the registration mark in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No. 2411/98 (a copy of which can be obtained from the Stationery Office). (See regulation 16.) h The exemption of small invalid vehicles and pedestrian-controlled vehicles from the requirement to carry registration marks and provision permitting “classic” vehicles to use old-style plates indefinitely. (See regulations 3 and 18 and regulations 10 to 14 passim.) The Regulations make the use of mandatory plates containing characters of the specified size in the prescribed font (with or without the international distinguishing sign) optional on vehicles either currently registered or first registered before 1st September 2001 with effect from 21st March 2001. (See regulation 17.) A draft of these Regulations has been communicated to the European Commission in accordance with Article 8 of Directive 98/34/EC (a directive of the European Parliament and Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations; OJ No. L204, 21.7.98, p. 37). The Regulations have been made in conjunction with the Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/560). A combined Regulatory Impact Assessment for the two instruments has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Road Safety Division of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Zone 2/09 Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR (telephone number 020 7944 2452) or viewed on the DETR website www.detr.gov.uk. A copy has been placed in the library 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.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.88 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