UK Offence Report

4 If the managing body of an airport contravenes an obligation imposed by— a Article 5, b Article 7(1), (2),…

regulation 3(4) of The Civil Aviation (Access to Air Travel for Disabled Persons and Persons with Reduced Mobility) Regulations 2007 (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

4 If the managing body of an airport contravenes an obligation imposed by—

a Article 5,

b Article 7(1), (2), (3), (5) or (6),

c Article 8(1), (2), (5) or (6),

d Article 9(1) or (3),

e Article 11, or

f Article 13, it is guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 3(4)?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Civil Aviation (Access to Air Travel for Disabled Persons and Persons with Reduced Mobility) Regulations 2007, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
3 July 2007
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 provide for the enforcement of the rights and entitlements set out in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2006 (OJ No. L 204, 26.7.2006) (“the EC Regulation”), which concerns the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air. With the exception of regulation 10 which comes into force on 1 October 2007, the Regulations come into force in two stages to reflect the fact that the EC Regulation has effect from 26th July 2008, except for Articles 3 and 4, which apply from 26th July 2007. Insofar as the Regulations relate to purposes connected with Articles 3 and 4 or deal with designation of enforcement and complaints bodies, they come into force on 26th July 2007. Regulation 3 provides offences for failure to comply with various obligations set out in the EC Regulation. These obligations fall, respectively, upon air carriers and their agents, tour operators, operating air carriers and managing bodies of airports and the penalties provided by regulation 4 vary from fines not exceeding level 3 or level 5 on the standard scale on summary conviction, to an unlimited fine on conviction on indictment. It will be a defence for a person to demonstrate that he took all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with the EC Regulation (regulation 5). Regulation 6 provides that members and officers of corporate bodies who have contributed to a failure to comply with the EC Regulation shall also be liable to prosecution. The Regulations designate the Civil Aviation Authority as the body responsible for the enforcement of the EC Regulation and give the CAA rights of access to airports and aircraft in connection with that function. Initially the Disability Rights Commission is designated in Great Britain as the body to receive complaints regarding any alleged breaches of the EC Regulation until the replacement of that body by the Commission for Equality and Human Rights when it comes into being on 1st October 2007. Separate provision is made in respect of the body to receive complaints in Northern Ireland (regulation 7). Regulation 8 amends section 19 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 which makes it unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person in relation to goods, facilities and services. This regulation inserts a provision to disapply section 19(1) in relation to anything governed by the EC Regulation. This is to ensure that there is no duplication where there would otherwise be an overlap between the EC Regulation and the Act. Regulation 9 enables persons who have suffered an infringement of their rights under the EC Regulation to seek compensation separately from any penal sanction that may be imposed. A claim for compensation must be brought within six months of the infringement complained of. Regulation 10 amends section 27 of the Equality Act 2006 to enable the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to offer a conciliation service in relation to a claim made under regulation 9. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector has been produced and a copy placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Department for Transport, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. Alternatively copies can be obtained from the Department for Transport’s website which is at www.dft.gov.uk. The regulatory impact assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website.

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