UK Offence Report

Prohibition of expenses not authorised by election agent

regulation 42(6) of The European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2004 (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

6 Where any act or omission of an association or body of persons, corporate or unincorporate, is an offence declared to be

a corrupt or illegal practice by this regulation, any person who at the time of the act or omission was

a director, general manager, secretary or other similar officer of the association or body, or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence, unless he proves—

a that the act or omission took place without his consent or connivance; and

b that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

uch capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence, unless he proves— a that the act or omission took place without his consent or connivance; and b that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to al

What would breach regulation 42(6)?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2004.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
29 April 2004
In force from
30 April 2004
Extent
N.I.

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, which extend to Northern Ireland only, make provision for the conduct of elections to the European Parliament and for the questioning of such an election and the consequences of irregularities. They revoke and replace the European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1986, as amended by the instruments listed in Schedule 7, which applied provisions of the Representation of the People Acts and regulations made under those Acts as modified by those Regulations. In these Regulations, the relevant provisions of the Representation of the People Acts and regulations made thereunder are set out in full with appropriate modifications. Part 1 of these Regulations makes general provision for the conduct of the poll and the manner of voting in the electoral region of Northern Ireland. Regulation 6 introduces Schedule 1, which contains rules for European Parliamentary elections. Provision about absent voting is made by regulations 7 to 13 and Schedule 2. Regulation 14 and Schedule 3 modify these Regulations for the 2004 election in respect of citizens of the Accession States (as defined in regulation 2, that is the States joining the European Union on 1st May 2004). Provision is also made about the register of electors and the functions of the registration officer and returning officer (who is by virtue of section 6(4) of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 the Chief Electoral Officer). Offences relating to voting and other offences are created by regulations 23 to 29 and provision is made about the secrecy of voting and prohibition of publication of exit polls by regulations 30 and 31. Part 2 makes provision about the election campaign including the appointment of agents and the issuing of election broadcasts and publications. Regulation 38 and Schedule 4 impose controls on donation to candidates and regulations 39 to 57 and Schedule 5 deal with the election expenses of candidates. Various election offences including bribery and treating are created. Part 3 provides for the filling of vacancies by the holding of by-elections. Part 4 deals with legal proceedings in relation to European Parliamentary elections. Regulation 79 provides for the questioning of such an election to be by election petition and regulations 80 to 96 govern how such a petition is to be presented and served, provide for the hearing of a petition by an election court and for the procedure at and following the trial of an election petition. Regulations 97 to 109 deal with the prosecution of offences. Part 5 contains miscellaneous provisions. Regulation 115 and Schedule 6 provide for the combination of polls at European Parliamentary elections with those at parliamentary or local elections. Regulation 116 and Schedule 7 revoke the European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1986 and amending regulations.

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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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