UK Offence Report

1 A person is guilty of an offence if he fails without reasonable excuse to do anything that he is required…

regulation 16(1) of The Armed Forces (Service Inquiries) Regulations 2008

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 is guilty of an offence if he fails without reasonable excuse to do anything that he is required to do by

a witness notice served upon him in accordance with regulation 14.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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

1 A person is guilty of an offence if he fails without reasonable excuse to do anything that he is required to do by a witness notice served upon him in accordance with regulation 14.

What would breach regulation 16(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails without reasonable excuse to do anything that he is required to do by a witness notice served upon him in accordance with regulation 14.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Armed Forces (Service Inquiries) Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run; 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
25 June 2008
In force from
1 October 2008
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 holding of inquiries by the armed forces under the Armed Forces Act 2006. Regulation 3 provides for the appointment of convening authorities in relation to particular matters or categories of matter. Under regulation 4 the convening authority in relation to a matter may cause a service inquiry to be held into the matter. This is subject to a duty to hold a service inquiry into deaths of persons while subject to service law, if the convening authority considers that any lesson which is not apparent from the death may be learned by means of a service inquiry. Under regulation 4 the Defence Council may also cause a service inquiry to be held into any matter. Regulation 5 provides for the convening of a service inquiry by order of the convening authority. Regulations 6 and 7 deal with the membership of the panel conducting a service inquiry and with the provision of terms of reference by the convening authority to the service inquiry panel. Under regulation 8 the convening authority may defer convening a service inquiry, or suspend such an inquiry to allow other investigations to be carried out or legal proceedings to be completed. Regulation 9 provides for a service inquiry to end on the making of the final report or to be ended by the issue by the convening authority of a notice. Such a notice must give reasons for ending the inquiry. Regulation 9 also provides that termination by notice does not prevent the holding of another inquiry into the same matter. Regulation 10 deals with procedure, adjournments and the recording of the proceedings and evidence. Regulation 11 and Schedule 1 provides for the calling of witnesses, evidence by live television link and the giving of evidence under oath. Regulation 12 deals with the exclusion of evidence given to a service inquiry from use as evidence in service disciplinary proceedings or in criminal proceedings before civilian courts. Regulation 13, 14 and 15 and Schedule 2 provide for the application for, and the issue, service and revocation of, notices requiring witnesses to attend a service inquiry or to provide evidence. Regulation 16 creates offences in relation to non-compliance with a witness notice and intentional interference with or suppression of evidence. Regulation 17 requires the president of a service inquiry to obtain the convening authority’s consent before allowing a person other than a witness to attend the proceedings. Under the regulation, such attendance may be subject to reasonable conditions, imposed by the convening authority when giving his consent. Under regulation 18 persons who, in the president’s opinion, may be affected as to their character or professional reputation by the inquiry’s findings are entitled to attend the inquiry. Attendance is subject to such conditions as the president, after consulting the convening authority, may reasonably impose. Where a person is entitled to be present, he has under regulation 18 rights to be represented, to give evidence and to question witnesses. Regulation 19 deals with the presentation by a service inquiry of a provisional report or reports and the declaration by the convening authority of the final report. Regulation 20 and Schedule 3 make transitory provision so that references to certain terms and expressions in the Regulations which are defined in the Armed Forces Act 2006 are interpreted as references to equivalent provisions in the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957, until replaced by the relevant provisions of the Armed Forces Act 2006.

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