UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 48(1) of The Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 (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

1 Any person who breaches any provision of these Regulations is guilty of an offence and liable — a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or b on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 48(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 breaches any provision of these Regulations.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
1 September 2008
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 revoke and replace, in so far as they apply in England, the provisions set out in regulation 50, which controlled the application of nitrogen fertiliser in nitrate sensitive areas. They continue to implement in England Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources (OJ No. L.375, 31.12.91, p.1). The principal changes are as follows. The Regulations extend the areas designated as nitrate vulnerable zones. The permitted annual level of nitrate application of livestock manure to grassland in a nitrate vulnerable zone is reduced from 250 kg/ha to 170 kg/ha (previously the lower limit applied to land other than grassland). They change the period during which organic manure in a nitrate vulnerable zone may not be spread and increase the amount of organic manure storage capacity required. The Regulations designate nitrate vulnerable zones and establish an appeals procedure against the designation (Part 2). They impose annual limits on the amount of nitrogen from organic manure that may be applied or spread in a holding in a nitrate vulnerable zone (Part 3). Part 4 establishes requirements relating to the amount of nitrogen to be spread on a crop, and requires an occupier to plan in advance how much nitrogen fertiliser will be spread. Part 5 requires an occupier to provide a risk map of the holding (regulation 18) and imposes conditions on how, where and when to spread nitrogen fertiliser. Part 6 establishes closed periods during which it is prohibited to spread nitrogen fertiliser. Part 7 makes provision for how nitrogen fertiliser must be stored, and requires storage capacity for manure produced on the holding during the period specified in that Part. Part 8 specifies which records must be kept. Part 9 requires the Secretary of State to review the Regulations within set time scales. The Regulations are enforced by the Environment Agency. Breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable— a on summary conviction, with a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or b on conviction on indictment, with a fine. A full impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations and placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and copies can be obtained at www.defra.gov.uk.

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 0.92.

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