UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 2 of The Agricultural or Forestry Tractors (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) Regulations 2002 (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—

a regulation 4 (prohibition on entering engines into service);

b paragraph

4 of this Schedule (obstruction of authorised officers and false statements);

c paragraph

5 of this Schedule (suspension notices); or

d paragraph 8(7) of this Schedule (prohibition of purported search and seizure by unauthorised person).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

tions 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. 3 Where in any proceedings (which in Scotland include the trial diet) against any person for such an offence the defence provided by sub-paragraph (2) above involves an allegation that the commission of the offence was due— a

What would breach paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Agricultural or Forestry Tractors (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) Regulations 2002.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2002-08-12); 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
17 July 2002
In force from
12 August 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, which prohibit the initial entry into service of tractor engines which do not meet specified emissions requirements, implement Articles 4.3 to 4.5 of Directive 2000/25 of the European Parliament and of the Council on action to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants by engines intended to power agricultural or forestry tractors. The tractor engines to which the Regulations apply are specified in regulation 3. They include all engines falling within a category specified Table 1 in Schedule 1 apart from engines for tractors intended for sale outside the European Community, replacement engines and “end of series engines” designated under regulation 5. Regulation 5 provides for engine manufacturers to apply to the Secretary of State for exemption of engines manufactured before the application of the new emissions standards established by Directive 2000/25 came into force up to a maximum equivalent to 10 per cent of the engines manufactured by the manufacturer in question during the previous calendar year. Regulation 4 prohibits the first entry into service of a relevant engine after a date specified for the relevant engine category in Table 1 in Schedule 1 if the engine does not comply with the emissions limits specified in Table 2 (determined in accordance with Annex III of Council Directive 97/68). Regulation 6 and Schedule 2 provide for offences and enforcement. Under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 it is an offence to contravene the prohibition in regulation 4, as well as certain enforcement provisions in the Schedule. Paragraph 2 of the Schedule establishes certain defences, and paragraphs 4 to 15 contain provisions (including powers of entry and seizure) aimed at assisting enforcement. Regulation 6 provides for the Regulations to be enforced in Great Britain by the Secretary of State and in Northern Ireland by the Secretary of State and District Councils; and for the bringing of criminal proceedings. This Explanatory Note incorporates the Transposition Note that would otherwise have been provided separately. Copies of the Directives and Regulations which are relevant to these Regulations can be obtained from the Stationery Office. A Regulatory Impact Assessment for Directive 2000/25 has been prepared and copies may be obtained from the Vehicle Standards and Engineering Division, Department for Transport, Zone 4/17, Great Minister House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, telephone number 020 7944 2097. A copy has been placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament.

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