UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 5 of The Energy Information (Household Air Conditioners) 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

1 It shall be an offence to contravene or fail to comply with—

a regulation 6 (placing on the market—technical documentation);

b regulation 7 (supplier’s duties in respect of labels);

c regulation 8 (supplier’s duties in respect of the information notice);

d regulation 10(1) (supplier’s duties in respect of the accuracy of labels and information notices);

e regulation 11 (dealer’s duty in respect of displayed regulated household air conditioners);

f regulation 12 (information in respect of mail order and other distance sales);

g regulation 14 (misleading information);

h paragraph

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

i paragraph 8(8) of this Schedule (prohibition of purported search and seizure by unauthorised persons); or

j paragraph 12(1) of this Schedule (restrictions on undue disclosure of information).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

ions, 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.

What would breach paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 5?

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 Energy Information (Household Air Conditioners) Regulations 2003.
  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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
14 March 2003
In force from
4 April 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 Council Directive 92/75/EEC (on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by household appliances) and Commission Directive 2002/31/EC (implementing Council Directive 92/75/EEC with regard to energy labelling of household air conditioners). Air conditioners to which these Regulations apply are those specified in regulation 3, subject to the exclusions specified in regulation 4. Suppliers, as defined in regulation 2, must supply labels (which comply with Schedules 1 and 3) and information notices (which comply with Schedules 2 and 3) about the energy consumption of those regulated household air conditioners (regulations 7 and 8). Suppliers are deemed to consent to the publication of the information given on a label or in an information notice (regulation 9). They are responsible for the accuracy of this information (regulation 10) and are required to establish, before the air conditioner is placed on the Community market, technical documentation to enable the accuracy of the information to be assessed (regulation 6). Information obtained for the purposes of the Regulations must be obtained in accordance with regulation 5. Dealers, as defined in regulation 2, must attach a label to a regulated household air conditioner displayed to end-users (regulation 11). Where a regulated household air conditioner is for sale by communication (as defined in regulation 2), the dealer is required by regulation 12 to provide relevant information as set out in Schedules 2 and 3. Regulation 14 prohibits the display of misleading information about the energy consumption of regulated household air conditioners. Regulation 15 provides for the presumption of compliance. Regulation 16 and Schedule 5 contain provisions on offences, penalties and other matters of enforcement. Where a supplier is required to provide labels in another Community language, Schedule 4 sets out the equivalent terms to the terms in English in Schedules 1 and 2. Regulation 17 makes transitional provision; until 30th June 2003 the Regulations do not apply unless a regulated air conditioner is offered for sale or displayed with a label or information notice or is distributed with a communication. A Regulatory Impact Assessment, estimating the financial impact of the Regulations on suppliers, dealers and wholesalers of household air conditioners covered by the scheme, can be obtained from: Environment, Business and Consumers Division, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 0.90.

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