UK Offence Report

Other voting offences

regulation 24(6) of The European Parliamentary Elections 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 A person shall also be guilty of an offence if he knowingly induces or procures some other person to do an act which is, or but for that other person’s want of knowledge would be, an offence by that other person under the foregoing paragraphs of this regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly.

What would breach regulation 24(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 Regulations 2004.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
22 March 2004
In force from
23 March 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 apply to England, Wales, Scotland and Gibraltar. They revoke the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 1999. Those Regulations made provision dealing with the conduct of the elections, supplementary provisions about the election campaign and registered parties and about what happens where there is a vacancy. They applied the provisions of the Representation of the People Acts and regulations made under them with appropriate modifications, for the purposes of the conduct of European Parliamentary elections and related matters, including the consequences of irregularities and challenges to the result. Many of the provisions of these Regulations are similar in effect to provisions which were made for the European Parliamentary elections of 1999. However, they also take into account changes in legislation since that time, including the effects of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the Representation of the People Act 2000 and the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003. By virtue of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003, provision is made to enable Gibraltar electors, for the first time, to vote in European Parliamentary elections. This requires a number of modifications throughout the Regulations to take account of practical differences. At Schedule 4 provision is also made in relation to the entitlement to vote in Gibraltar and to be on the Gibraltar register of European Parliamentary electors. In addition, a Gibraltar Ordinance will make provision about the maintenance of the Gibraltar register. Provisions covering absent voting in parliamentary and local government elections have been revised since the last European Parliamentary elections, by the Representation of the People Act 2000, the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001. Those changes enabled electors to vote by post more easily and these Regulations reflect those changes, taking a similar approach for European Parliamentary elections. It is expected that 10 further states will have become part of the European Union by the time of the European Parliamentary election in June 2004. Citizens of those States who are resident in the United Kingdom are to be enabled to vote in those elections, in pursuance of Council Directive 93/109/EC. That Directive provides for citizens of the Union to be able to vote in the Member States in which they reside under similar conditions to the nationals of the State in which they reside. A Transposition Note laid before Parliament with these Regulations sets this out, and how it has been transposed under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, in more detail. Schedule 5 makes provision about the citizens of Accession States. Other provisions made specifically giving effect to that Directive in relation to existing citizens of the European Union are in regulations 17(2)(b)(iv) and 28(1), rule 9 of Schedule 1, the references to that rule in rules 13(1) and (5)(c), and in paragraphs 12(3)(e), 18(d), 19(1)(b) and 20(1) and (5) of Schedule 4. The Rules relating to verification and counting of the votes and notification of the local result take into account the amendments to the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, annexed to Council Decision 77/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom to be made by Council Decision 2002/772/EC. Once those amendments are in force it will be possible to commence counting the votes before the close of the poll in other Member States, although the result will not be made available to the public until after all polls have closed across Europe. Other changes as a result of legislation subsequent to the 1999 European Parliamentary elections include: publication of exit polls before the close of poll will be an offence, liable to fine or imprisonment (regulation 30); as the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 now controls campaign expenditure by political parties, the Regulations control the election expenses of individual candidates only (Part 2); controls on broadcasting in the amended section 93 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 will be reflected (regulation 64); provision is made for a tactile voting device to assist visually impaired voters, and for large-print display ballot papers and assistance for voters who are physically incapacitated or unable to read (Schedule 1, rules 30 and 40); and postal voters will be permitted to return postal ballot papers by hand to polling stations in the local counting area (Schedule 2, rule 41). The Regulations refer to a number of Gibraltar Ordinances. They can be obtained from: Publications, Government Secretariat, No 6 Convent Place, Gibraltar. Telephone: 00 350 47932. Fax: 00 350 74524. email: legisunit2@gibnynex.gi

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 0.92.

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