UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 6 of The Energy Information (Household Refrigerators and Freezers) 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

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

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

b regulation 7 (suppliers' duties in respect of labels);

c regulation 8 (suppliers' duties in respect of information sheets);

d regulation 9 (suppliers' duty in respect of the accuracy of information);

e regulation 11 (dealers' duty in respect of displayed appliances);

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

g regulation 13 (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 power of entry, inspection, seizure and detention by unauthorised persons);

j paragraph 12(1) of this Schedule (restrictions on 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Energy Information (Household Refrigerators and Freezers) Regulations 2004.
  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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2004-07-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
27 May 2004
In force from
1 July 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 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 94/2/EC as amended by Commission Directive 2003/66/EC (implementing Council Directive 92/75/EEC with regard to energy labelling of household electric refrigerators, freezers and their combinations). The texts of Council Directive 92/75/EEC and Commission Directive 94/2/EC (as amended by Commission Directive 2003/66/EC) have been extended to the European Economic Area (“EEA”) by amendments to points 4 and 4a of Chapter IV of Annex II to the Agreement. The EEA states that are not member States are Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Household electric refrigerators, freezers and their combinations to which these Regulations apply are those specified in regulation 3, subject to the exclusions specified in regulation 4. In particular, they do not apply to appliances placed on the Community market before 1st July 2004. Suppliers, as defined in regulation 2, must supply labels (which comply with Schedules 1 and 4) free of charge to dealers (regulation 7(3)) and supply information sheets (which comply with Schedules 2, 4 and 5) giving information about the energy consumption of those appliances (regulations 7 and 8). They are responsible for the accuracy of the information (regulation 9) and are required to establish, before the appliance is placed on the Community market, technical documentation to enable the accuracy of the information to be assessed and to retain that information for a period of 5 years after the last appliance of a particular model is manufactured (regulation 5). Suppliers are deemed to consent to the publication of the information given on a label or in an information sheet (regulation 10). Dealers, as defined in regulation 2, must attach labels to displayed appliances displayed to end-users (regulation 11). Where a person offers an appliance for sale by way of a communication (as defined in regulation 2(2)), that person is required by regulation 12 (information in respect of mail order and other distance selling) to provide certain information to the potential purchaser a set out in Schedule 3. Regulation 13 prohibits the display of misleading information about the energy consumption of an appliance, save where labels that comply with the 1994 Regulations are permitted to be displayed. Regulation 14 provides a presumption of compliance in respect of labels and information sheets. Regulation 15 and Schedule 6 contain provisions on offences, penalties and other matters of enforcement. Prosecutions in Scotland cannot be brought by the enforcement authority (regulation 15(2)) but are brought by the Procurator Fiscal. Regulation 16 contains transitional provisions allowing labels, information sheets and communications that comply with the 1994 Regulations to be displayed or used in relation to appliances placed on the Community market on or before 30th December 2004. Regulation 17(1) revokes the 1994 Regulations and the Energy Information and Energy Efficiency (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2001 to the extent that they amend the 1994 Regulations on the 31st December 2004, subject to paragraph (2). Regulation 17(2) preserves the provision of the 1994 Regulations in two situations: for appliances placed on the Community market before 1st July 2004; or where an appliance is placed on the Community market after 30th June 2004 but before 31st December 2004 and measurements were made using EN 153:1990 (BS EN 153:1990). A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament, together with Transposition Notes setting out how the main elements of Council Directive 92/75/EEC and Commission Directive 94/2/EC (as amended) are transposed in these Regulations. Copies of these documents may be obtained from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Business and Consumers Division, Zone 6/D10, Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE. Copies of the British Standards publications referred to in these Regulations may be obtained from any of the sales outlets operated by the British Standards Institution or by post from the British Standards Institution, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AJ.

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