UK Offence Report

Statement on entry

regulation 5 of The Gambling Act 2005 (Inspection) (Provision of Information) Regulations 2007

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

5 If— a an inspector questions a person on the premises under section 317(1)(b), and b that person refuses to answer the question, the inspector must orally inform the person that he is exercising a power to question under section 317(1)(b) and that it is an offence under section 326 if, without reasonable excuse, a person obstructs, or fails to cooperate with, an inspector who is exercising or seeking to exercise a power under or by virtue of Part 15.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

n 317(1)(b) and that it is an offence under section 326 if, without reasonable excuse, a person obstructs, or fails to cooperate with, an inspector who is exercising or seeking to exercise a power under or by virtue of Part 15.

What would breach regulation 5?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Gambling Act 2005 (Inspection) (Provision of Information) Regulations 2007.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

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
8 February 2007
In force from
21 May 2007
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 come into force on 21st May 2007 and require persons who exercise their powers of entry and inspection under Part 15 of the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act), to provide information about those powers and their exercise. Part 15 of the Act empowers constables, enforcement officers and authorised persons (“inspectors”) to enter different kinds of premises under specified circumstances. An inspector exercising a power under Part 15 to enter premises, also has powers under section 317(1) of the Act to inspect the premises, question persons on the premises, require access to and copies of written or electronic records on the premises, and remove and retain material from the premises. Regulation 3 places an obligation on inspectors exercising their powers under Part 15 of the Act, to ensure that anyone accompanying them produces evidence of his identity. Section 324 of the Act allows an inspector exercising a power to enter premises under Part 15 of the Act to take one or more persons with him. Regulation 4 requires inspectors to inform specified persons on the premises (“appropriate recipients”, defined in regulation 2(1)) of their right to request a written record of the visit. If there is no appropriate recipient on the premises, the inspector is required to leave that information in a written notice, with his name and the date of the inspection. Regulations 5 requires inspectors to inform persons they are questioning, of the inspector’s power to question any person on the premises under section 317(1)(b) of the Act, and of the offence of obstruction under section 326 of the Act. An inspector’s obligation under regulation 5 will arise where a person refuses to answer any of his questions. Regulation 6(1) requires an inspector to provide a written record of his inspection to the persons listed in regulation 2(1), referred to as “interested persons”. The record is only required to be provided on request, and Regulation 6(2) sets out the required contents of that record. A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the costs and benefits of these Regulations is available from the Premises Licences Team, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5DH, telephone 020 7211 6420.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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