UK Offence Report

31 Any person who contravenes a requirement of regulation— a 27; or b 28, shall be guilty of an offence.

regulation 31 of The End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003

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

31 Any person who contravenes

a requirement of regulation— a 27; or b 28, shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 31?

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 a requirement of regulation— a 27; or b 28.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the End-of-Life Vehicles 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 82507 — 82507 - Triable either way offences under End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 (MOT). That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
8 October 2003
In force from
Not determined
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 partially implement Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on end-of-life vehicles (OJ No. L 269, 21.10.2000, p. 34). The following provisions of the Directive are transposed in these Regulations, namely Articles 2, 3(1) to (5), 4(2) plus Annex II, 5(3), 5(4) in respect of vehicles put on the market on or after 1st July 2002, 6(1) to (4) and Annex I, 8 and 9(2). The Regulations apply to end-of-life vehicles as defined in regulation 2, while Part VII also applies to waste motor vehicles not covered by that definition. Part II of the Regulations provides for the application of the Regulations. Regulation 5 states that the information requirements in regulations 14 to 26 do not apply to vehicles produced in small series as defined in Article 8(2)(a) of Directive 70/156/EC (OJ No. L42, 23.2.1970, p. 1). In Part III of the Regulations the design requirements for materials and components of vehicles put on the market after the Regulations come into effect are set out. Regulation 6 requires producers to ensure that materials and components of such vehicles do not contain lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavelent chromium apart from in those cases listed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. Regulation 7 requires a producer following a request from the enforcement authority to submit technical documents showing compliance with the requirements of regulation 6 and Schedule 1. A producer is required to keep the technical documents for a period of four years from the date the materials and components are put on the market (regulation 8). Enforcement in this Part of the Regulations is by a compliance notice procedure (regulation 9). Regulation 10 introduces offences for breach of the requirements of Part III. The penalties to be applied for breach of the requirements in Part III are set out in regulation 11. There are also provisions relating to the defence of due diligence (regulation 12) as well as liability of persons other than the principal offender (regulation 13). Part IV of the Regulations introduces the information requirements. A producer is required to use material and component coding standards to facilitate the identification of those materials and components which are suitable for reuse and recovery (regulation 14, 15 and Schedule 2). Following a request from the enforcement authority the producer small submit information showing that material and coding standards have been used (regulation 16). A producer is obliged to keep the information necessary to demonstrate compliance for a period of four years from the date the materials and components are put on the market (regulation 17). A producer is required to provide the enforcement authority with dismantling information within six months after the date that each type of new vehicle is put on the market (regulation 18). Regulation 19 requires producers to publish information on the recoverability and recyclability of vehicles. Enforcement is by a compliance notice procedure (regulation 21). Regulations 23 and 24 introduce the offences and the penalties to be applied for breach of the requirements in Part IV. Part V of the Regulations introduces the Certificate of Destruction (CoD). Regulation 27 provides that when an end-of-life vehicle is transferred to it for treatment, an authorised treatment facility (defined in regulation 2) may issue a CoD to the last holder /owner of the end-of-life vehicle. Regulation 28 prohibits the authorised treatment facility from imposing a charge on the last holder/owner for issuing the CoD. Regulation 29 and Schedule 3 provide for the form and content of the CoD. Regulation 33 amends regulation 17 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, S.I. 2742/2002. Where an end-of-life vehicle is transferred to an authorised treatment facility the facility shall notify the Secretary of State for Transport that a CoD has been issued (regulation 34). Moreover, where the Secretary of State is notified that a CoD has been issued he shall not record any further change of keeper in the Register (regulation 34 which amends regulation 17 of S.I. 2742/2002). Regulation 34 also provides for mutual recognition of CoDs throughout the European Economic Area and in Gibraltar. Regulation 36 provides for restrictions on the disclosure of information obtained from the vehicle register. Part VI of the Regulations sets out the provisions for treatment of end-of-life vehicles put on the market on or after 1st July 2002. Authorised treatment facilities are prohibited from charging the last holder/owner as a result of the vehicle having no market value (regulation 38(1)). Producers are responsible for meeting the costs of treatment of an end-of-life vehicle which has no market value when delivered to an authorised treatment facility for treatment (regulation 39). The Secretary of State will enforce this Part of the Regulations by means of a certificate of compliance procedure (regulations 40 to 41 and Schedule 3). Regulations 42 and 43 introduce the offences and the penalties to be applied where there is a breach of the requirements of Part VI. Part VII of the Regulations provides that all existing site licences (being a type of waste management licence granted (in England and Wales) by the Environment Agency under section 35 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) under which either or both the keeping or treatment of waste motor vehicles (almost all being end-of-life vehicles) is currently authorised shall be modified, so as now to include the conditions contained in Schedule 5 to the Regulations (being the conditions and other provisions now required by Article 6 of, and Annex I to, Directive 2000/53/EC) (regulation 44). All recovery operations (which are a type of treatment) currently carried out under the cover of registered exemptions from the requirement to have a site licence, (with the exception only of those carried out on depolluted vehicles) are now required to be conducted under the authorisation of a site licence, and regulation 45 deals with the arrangements by which exemption holders may apply for site licences. Regulation 49 describes the fees to accompany such applications. Regulation 47 preserves the exemption from licensing for those treating only depolluted vehicles. Regulation 48 makes certain consequential amendments to the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/1056). A Regulatory Impact Assessment is available, copies of which have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are also available from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
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