UK Offence Report

Criminal offences in relation to false claims or evidence

rule 33(1) of The Energy Administration (Scotland) Rules 2006

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 If a creditor produces under Rule 28 a statement of claim, account, voucher or other evidence which is false, the creditor shall be guilty of an offence unless he shows that he neither knew nor had reason to believe that the statement of claim, account, voucher or other evidence was false.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 rule 33(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Energy Administration (Scotland) Rules 2006.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

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

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
13 March 2006
In force from
6 April 2006
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 Rules) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules set out the procedure for the conduct of energy administration proceedings in Scotland. Energy administration is a special insolvency regime specifically created for the companies that run and operate the gas and electricity networks in Great Britain. The framework for the energy administration regime is set out in Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20) (the “2004 Act”). Only certain types of energy companies, known as “protected energy companies”, can enter energy administration and these are defined in section 154(5) of the 2004 Act. A protected energy company is one which holds either a licence under section 6(1)(b) or (c) of the Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29), or a licence under section 7 of the Gas Act 1986 (c. 44). The energy administration process is commenced by an application to court for an energy administration order. Such an application can be made by either the Secretary of State or, with the consent of the Secretary of State, by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority. An insolvency practitioner appointed to manage the affairs, business and property of the protected energy company is defined in section 154(2) of the 2004 Act as an energy administrator. These Rules are based upon the provisions of the existing Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986 (S.I. 1986/1915) but are a stand alone set of rules applicable only to energy administration proceedings. These Rules apply to protected energy companies which the courts in Scotland have jurisdiction to wind up. There are separate Rules (The Energy Administration Rules 2005 – 2005 No. 2485) which apply to protected energy companies which the courts in England and Wales have jurisdiction to wind up. Part 1 of these Rules contains the construction and interpretation provisions. Part 2 sets out the procedure to be followed to raise energy administration proceedings and on whom such proceedings must be served. Part 3 details the initial steps to be taken in energy administration proceedings. These include the notification and advertisement of the energy administrator’s appointment and the preparation of a statement of the protected energy company’s affairs. Part 3 also sets out the information that must be given to creditors in the energy administrator’s proposals. Part 4 of these Rules governs the conduct of creditors and company meetings called by an energy administrator during energy administration proceedings. Part 5 of these Rules makes provision in respect of claims in the energy administration and how they are to be established and quantified, as well as the voting rights that flow from claims which are accepted. It also provides for a criminal offence in respect of false claims by creditors. Part 6 of these Rules concerns distributions to creditors of the protected energy company and accounting periods. It sets out the order of priority in any distribution and any expenses thereunder. A distribution can only be made if it is consistent with the energy administrator’s powers and duties. Part 7 of these Rules sets out the arrangements for ending an energy administration. There are specific provisions detailing the ending of an energy administration by court order, as well as the process by which an energy administration moves into either a creditors' voluntary liquidation or dissolution of the protected energy company. Part 8 deals with the requirements and procedures for replacing an energy administrator and includes provisions relating to the resignation of an energy administrator and the removal of an energy administrator from office by court order. Part 9 of these Rules makes provision in respect of the prescribed part. Part 10 makes provision for the use of proxies at creditors' or members' meetings held during an energy administration, including the rights of inspection of such proxies and the procedure to be followed where a proxy-holder has a financial interest in the outcome of a resolution to be voted on at the meeting. Part 11 deals with miscellaneous provisions, including provisions for service of notices, caution and provides the court with power to cure defects in procedure. The Schedule to the Rules contains the forms that are to be used in energy administration proceedings. The forms in this Schedule are based upon the forms contained in the Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986 which deal with ordinary administration, but have been modified for the purposes of energy administration. A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.

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