UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 8(1) of The Environmental Protection (Controls on Dangerous Substances) 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

1 Any person who contravenes regulation 4, 5,

6 or 7, or causes or permits another person to contravene those regulations, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 8(1)?

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, 6 or 7, or causes or permits another person to contravene those regulations.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Environmental Protection (Controls on Dangerous Substances) 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
£5,000
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 9152 — 09152 - Contravention of Regulations 4, 5,6 or 7 (Environmental Protection (Controls on Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2003). 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
13 December 2003
In force from
6 January 2004
Extent
E+W+S

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 give effect to European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/45/EC which amended for the twentieth time Council Directive 76/769/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations. They also give effect to European Commission Directive 2003/2/EC relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of arsenic (tenth adaptation to technical progress to Council Directive 76/769/EEC). They revoke the Environmental Protection (Controls on Hexachloroethane) Regulations 2003, S.I. 2003/602 and re-enact the prohibition contained in those Regulations. These Regulations extend to Great Britain. Regulation 3 sets out exclusions to the restrictions on the placing on the market and use of dangerous substances and preparations under the Regulations. Regulation 4 prohibits the placing on the market from 6th January 2004 of short chain chlorinated paraffins in concentrations greater than 1% for use in metalworking or for fat liquoring of leather. Regulation 5 prohibits, from 30 June 2004, the use of arsenic compounds as substances or constituents of preparations intended for use: (i) to prevent the fouling of certain aquatic structures and equipment by micro-organisms, plants or animals; (ii) in the preservation of wood; and (iii) in the treatment of industrial waters. The placing on the market of wood treated with substances or preparations containing arsenic compounds is also prohibited. Regulation 6 contains derogations to the restrictions in regulation 5, such that inorganic compounds of the copper, chromium, arsenic (CCA) type C may be used as substances and preparations in the preservation of wood in industrial installations using vacuum or pressure to impregnate wood. Wood so treated may not be placed on the market before fixation of the preservative is completed. Wood treated with CCA solutions in industrial installations may be placed on the market for professional and industrial uses specified in regulation 6(3) and subject to conditions specified in regulations 6(6) and (7). The restrictions on the use of wood treated with CCA solutions in regulation 6(4) do not apply to wood in place before 30 June 2004. Regulation 7 prohibits, from 6th January 2003, the use of hexachloroethane in the manufacturing or processing of non-ferrous metals. This re-enacts a prohibition in S.I. 2003/602, which entered into force on 30th June 2003. Regulation 8 makes it a criminal offence to contravene regulations 4, 5, 6 or 7 and specifies the penalties for such an offence. Regulation 9 amends regulation 5 of the Environmental Protection (Controls on Injurious Substances) Regulations 1992, S.I. 1992/31 and revokes the Environmental Protection (Controls on Hexachloroethane) Regulations 2003, S.I. 2003/602. A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and a Transposition Note in relation to these Regulations have been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies of either of these documents can be obtained from Defra, Chemicals and GM Policy Division, 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 0.92.

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