UK Offence Report

False or misleading information 65N 1 If information is provided by a person to the OFT in connection with…

paragraph 44 of SCHEDULE 1 of The Competition Act 1998 and Other Enactments (Amendment) Regulations 2004

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

False or misleading information 65N

1 If information is provided by

a person to the OFT in connection with any function of the OFT under this Part, that person is guilty of an offence if—

a the information is false or misleading in

a material particular; and

b he knows that it is or is reckless as to whether it is.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knows that).

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: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knows that.

The defence, as drafted

tion (1) in respect of a requirement to produce a document, it is a defence for him to prove— a that the document was not in his possession or under his control; and b that it was not reasonably practicable for him to comply with the requirement. 3 If a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1) in respect of a requirement— a to provide i

What would breach paragraph 44 of SCHEDULE 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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Competition Act 1998 and Other Enactments (Amendment) Regulations 2004.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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

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
30 April 2004
In force from
1 May 2004
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 of 16th December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ L 001, 04.1.03, P.1-25: “the EC Competition Regulation”) and for the alignment of the domestic competition regime in the Competition Act 1998 (c. 41: “the 1998 Act”) and the new European competition regime provided for in the EC Competition Regulation. Provision for implementing the EC Competition Regulation is made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68) and provision for aligning the domestic competition regime and the new European competition regime is made under section 209 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (c. 40). References in these Regulations to Articles of the Treaty are to Articles of the Treaty establishing the European Community as renumbered by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Subject to the possibility of satisfying the conditions set out in Article 81(3) of the Treaty, Article 81(1) of the Treaty prohibits agreements between undertakings which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common market and which may affect trade between Member States. Article 82 of the Treaty prohibits the abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the common market or in a substantial part of it in so far as it may affect trade between Member States. Article 3 of the EC Competition Regulation provides that where national competition authorities or national courts apply national competition law to agreements within the meaning of Article 81(1) of the Treaty which may affect trade between Member States within the meaning of that provision, they shall also apply Article 81 of the Treaty to such agreements; and that where national competition authorities or national courts apply national competition law to any abuse prohibited by Article 82 of the Treaty, they shall also apply Article 82 of the Treaty. Article 5 of the EC Competition Regulation empowers national competition authorities to apply Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty in individual cases. The investigation and enforcement by national competition authorities of suspected infringements of Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty is, however, left to national law by the EC Competition Regulation and requires implementation by Member States. Article 35 of the EC Competition Regulation provides that Member States shall designate the competition authority or authorities responsible for the application of Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty in such a way that the provisions of that Regulation are effectively complied with. Regulation 3 of these Regulations designates national competition authorities pursuant to Article 35 of the EC Competition Regulation. The Office of Fair Trading is designated as a national competition authority for the purposes of Chapters I, II, IV, V, VIII and IX of the EC Competition Regulation; and those sector regulators who are mentioned in section 54(1) of the 1998 Act are designated as national competition authorities for the purposes of Chapters I, II, IV, VIII and IX of the EC Competition Regulation. Regulation 4 of these Regulations amends the 1998 Act for the purposes of implementing the EC Competition Regulation and for alignment of the domestic competition regime and the European competition regime provided for in the EC Competition Regulation. Regulation 5 of these Regulations amends enactments other than the 1998 Act for the purposes of implementing the EC Competition Regulation and for the alignment of the domestic competition regime and the European competition regime provided for in the EC Competition Regulation. Regulations 6, 7, 8 and 9 of these Regulations make savings and consequential provision. Schedule 1 specifies the amendments to the 1998 Act that are made by regulation 4. Schedule 2 specifies the amendments to enactments other than the 1998 Act that are made by regulation 5. These Regulations come into force on 1 May 2007 for the purposes of regulation 4 as it gives effect to paragraphs 50(a) and 54(8) of Schedule 1 and on 1 May 2004 for all other purposes. A Regulatory Impact Assessment and a Transposition Note have been prepared. Copies can be obtained from the Modernisation Project Team, Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, Bay 606, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET, telephone 020 7215 2174. Copies can also be found at http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/consultations.htm.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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