UK Offence Report

6 Where an offence under this regulation by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the…

regulation 16(6) of The Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005

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 an offence under this regulation by

a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 16(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
21 July 2005
In force from
Not determined
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 are made under sections 2 and 7(9) of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999. They provide for the phasing out of the system of exemptions under the Prevention of Oil Pollution Act 1971 (permitting certain discharges of oil into the sea) and the replacement of that system by a permit system. The Regulations apply to the whole of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf except Scottish controlled waters. Regulation 3 provides that, in order for operators of offshore installations to discharge oil into relevant waters, a permit must be granted to them. This regulation also allows for the phasing in of the new permitting scheme. Regulations 4 and 5 deal with the procedure for the granting by the Secretary of State of permits, any conditions which may be attached to permits and the requirements for permit applications. Regulation 6 permits the Secretary of State to charge fees in relation to certain activities. Regulations 7 to 9 make provision for permits to be varied, assigned, revoked and surrendered in certain circumstances. Regulation 10 authorises the Secretary of State to make allocation plans in relation to specified emissions, and to make provision for one or more emissions trading schemes for the purpose of facilitating the trading of allowances allocated under the allocation plans. Regulation 11 requires the Secretary of State to establish and maintain a registry to record the trading in allowances allocated under the allocation plans. Regulations 12 to 14 deal with enforcement and give— a the Secretary of State power to appoint inspectors whose powers and duties are set out in regulation 12, and the power to serve prohibition notices (regulation 14); and b the Secretary of State or an inspector power to serve enforcement notices (regulation 13). Regulation 15 gives an applicant for a permit, any permit holder, or any person the subject of a decision by the Secretary of State a right to appeal to the court against the Secretary of State’s decisions under the Regulations. Regulation 16 creates offences. Regulation 17 deals with the services of notices and other documents. Regulations 18, 19 and 20 deal with the disapplication and consequential modifications of enactments and amendments of other secondary legislation. Schedules 1 and 2 effect amendments of the Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 2001 and the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002. These Regulations come into force on the thirtieth day after the day on which they are made. A regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business is available from Energy Resources and Development Unit, Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET (telephone 020 7215 5151). Copies have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

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 0.64.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.64 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