UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 69(1) of The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales)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

1 A person who commits an offence under regulation

65 in connection with any of the following regulations—

a regulation 21 (requirement to notify premises);

b regulation 22 (prohibition on removal of waste from premises unless notified or exempt);

c regulations

24 to 26 (notifications);

d regulation 34 (consignment codes);

e regulations

35 to 44 (consignment notes);

f regulation

46 and Schedule 7 (cross border consignments);

g regulation 53 (consignee and self-disposal quarterly returns);

h regulation 54 (consignee’s return to the producer, holder or consignor); or

i regulation 55 (duties to supply information). shall be liable on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 69(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales)Regulations 2005.

Penalty

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

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
23 March 2005
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W

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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations set out the regime for the control and tracking of the movement of hazardous waste for the purpose of implementing the Hazardous Waste Directive (Directive 91/689/EC). The Regulations extend to England and Wales although the only provisions that apply to Wales are modifications to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 contained in Part 11. The Waste Framework Directive (Directive 75/442/EEC) regulates, subject to the certain exclusions, the management of all types of waste (“Directive waste”). The Hazardous Waste Directive supplements the Waste Framework Directive by imposing additional requirements in relation to Directive waste which displays certain hazardous properties. These requirements have previously been transposed by the Special Waste Regulations 1996 through controls on “special waste”. These Regulations repeal the Special Waste Regulations 1996 and replace the term “special waste” with “hazardous waste”. Parts 1 to 3 of the Regulations define Hazardous waste and set out how the Regulations apply to that waste. The definition of hazardous waste in regulation 6 refers to the list of hazardous wastes set out in the List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005 (S.I.2005/895). There is an exclusion from these controls for domestic waste which displays hazardous properties but not if it comprises asbestos waste or is collected separately. In both cases, the Regulations do not impose obligations directly on householders. Part 4 bans the mixing of hazardous waste unless it is permitted as part of a disposal or recovery operation in accordance with the Waste Framework Directive. It also imposes a duty to separate different categories of Hazardous Waste where technically feasible. Part 5 makes it an offence to remove hazardous waste from premises which have not been notified to the Environment Agency, unless they are exempt premises or the waste has been flytipped. All premises at which hazardous waste is produced or removed must be notified by the producer of the waste or the consignor (the person who arranges for the removal of the waste). Notification lasts 12 months after which the premises must be notified again. A fee is payable to the Environment Agency on notification of premises. Part 6 requires documents to be completed whenever hazardous is removed from premises (which includes removal from ships and removal by pipeline). The various types of form are set out in Schedules 4 to 7. This is to ensure that an accurate description of consignments of waste accompanies them whenever they move. This is in addition to any requirements to ensure hazardous waste is properly packaged and labelled (see in particular the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1941)). Producers, holders, carriers, consignors and consignees are all required to complete various parts of the forms. If the consignee rejects the waste, suitable alternative arrangements must be made. Schedule 7 deals with cross border transfers within the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. Part 7 requires producers, holders, carriers, consignors and consignees to keep records. These must be kept for a minimum of 3 years except in the case of carriers where the period is 12 months. Consignees are required to provide the Environment Agency with a quarterly return setting out the consignments they have received during that period. Consignees may be required to pay a fee to the Environment Agency but are given a right to recover the payment from consignors who sent the waste to them. They are also required to send a return to producers or holders who sent waste to them. Schedule 9 sets out a transitional scheme for fees. Part 8 sets out the Agency’s functions. In particular, the Agency is required to inspect producers of hazardous waste periodically and to keep any records sent to it pursuant to Part 7 for a minimum of 3 years. Part 9 imposes duties on holders of hazardous waste and the Environment Agency in the event of an emergency or grave danger which arises from hazardous waste. Part 10 makes it an offence for failure to comply with the requirements of these Regulations. The maximum penalty for failure to comply with a requirement imposed by or under the regulations set out in regulation 69(1) is level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000). The Agency may issue fixed penalty notices of £300 instead of seeking conviction in relation to such offences. Other offences under the Regulations (including the provision of false information) are subject to a maximum fine of level 5 if tried summarily and higher fines and also imprisonment if tried on indictment. Part 11 omits references to special waste in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and replaces them with references to hazardous waste. It also gives the Secretary of State the power to designate waste as hazardous for the purposes of these Regulations by means of a statutory instrument. Schedule 11 makes consequential amendments to secondary legislation so that references to special waste are omitted and references to hazardous waste are updated so that they are consistent with these Regulations. Schedule 12 makes transitional provision. It provides a two month period for notification in advance of the Regulations fully coming into force. It also makes transitional provision for those cases where the change to hazardous waste from special waste would mean that a person would no longer be authorised to dispose or recover waste. As these Regulations give effect to a Directive, a transposition note has been prepared setting out how the Government will transpose into UK law the main elements of this Directive. A regulatory impact assessment has also been prepared. Copies of both the transposition note and regulatory impact assessment are available in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament, and from WM Hazardous Waste Unit, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Zone 7/F15, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE. The volume entitled “Indexes to the United Kingdom Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2003”, referred to in the definition of “SIC”, is available from the Stationery Office Limited on 0870 600 552.

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 “commits an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; c10_offence_under_parent_act
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