UK Offence Report

Offences and Penalties

regulation 7 of The Creosote (Prohibition on Use and Marketing)(No. 2) Regulations 2003 (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

7 Any person who contravenes regulation 4, 5 or 6 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 7?

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 contravenes regulation 4, 5 or 6.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Creosote (Prohibition on Use and Marketing)(No. 2) Regulations 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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 (2003-06-09); 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
9 June 2003
In force from
9 June 2003
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 Commission Directive 2001/90/EC (OJ No. L283, 27.10.01, p. 41). They revoke the Creosote (Prohibition on Use and Marketing) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/721) (“the 2003 Regulations”) using the power contained in section 11 (5) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987. This revocation comes into force before the 2003 Regulations were to have come into effect. The remaining provisions, which re-enact the 2003 Regulations with amendments, are made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. These Regulations correct defects in the 2003 Regulations. Regulation 2 revokes the Environmental Protection (Controls on Injurious Substances) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/3244) other than regulation 6, which had previously provided for restrictions on the use and marketing of wood treated with the dangerous substances or preparations referred to below. The Regulations prohibit the use of creosote and creosote-related substances set out in the Schedule (“the dangerous substances or preparations”) in the treatment of wood except for treatment in industrial installations and industrial or professional use for in situ retreatment (regulation 4). Dangerous substances or preparations may not be sold to consumers (regulation 5(1)) and may not be placed on the market unless the requirements as to composition (regulation 4(3)), packaging and labelling (regulation 5(3)) are complied with. Treated wood may not be placed on the market except for industrial and professional use. Wood treated before the Regulations come into force may be supplied for second-hand use (regulation 5(5)), and its use is restricted by regulation 6. Treated wood may not be used in the situations specified in regulation 6, including inside any buildings, in toys and in playgrounds. Where treated wood is in use before the Regulations came into force its continued use is not affected by the restrictions on use in regulation 6. A person who contravenes regulation 4, 5 or 6 is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction with a maximum of three months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (regulation 7). The EINECS and CAS numbers identifying the dangerous substances or preparations in the Schedule are given respectively in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (OJ No. Cl46A, 15.6.90, p. 1) and the CAS Registry Handbook, ISSN 0093–058X. The latter may be inspected at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1V 0BN. A full regulatory impact assessment report of the effect that these Regulations would have on the costs to business and a transposition note are freely available to the public from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry, 4th Floor, 1 Victoria Street, London SWIH 0ET. Copies of the report have also been placed in the libraries 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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