UK Offence Report

4 It is an offence for a person to pretend to be an authorised person.

regulation 13(4) of The REACH Enforcement 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

4 It is an offence for

a person to pretend to be an authorised person.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 13(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. On these words it is an offence to pretend to be an authorised person.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008.

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
1 November 2008
In force from
1 December 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 apply to the United Kingdom and provide for the enforcement of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)(OJ No L 396, 30.12.2006, p1). Under regulation 2, the enforcing authorities are: (a) the Department of the Environment (b) the Environment Agency (c) the Health and Safety Executive (d) the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (e) a local (consumer safety) authority (f) a local (health and safety) authority (g) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (h) the Secretary of State. Regulation 3 imposes enforcement duties on enforcing authorities to enforce those provisions of REACH listed in Schedule 1. Regulation 4 requires enforcing authorities to cooperate and share information with other bodies connected to REACH enforcement and provides for information sharing by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs. Regulation 5 provides for agreements between enforcing authorities under which one authority may act on behalf of another authority. Regulation 6 provides for arrangements between enforcing authorities responsible for the enforcement of health and safety aspects of REACH. Regulation 7 provides for defence exemption certificates. Regulation 8 makes provision for an exemption from Article 67 of REACH for the marketing and use of leaded paint. Regulation 9 provides for the powers of enforcing authorities as set out in Schedule 6 and regulation 10 provides for those persons authorised to act as authorised persons for those authorities. Regulation 11 creates criminal offences and regulation 12 provides for penalties in respect of those offences. Further criminal offences are created under regulation 13 and penalties in respect of those offences are set out in regulation 14. Regulation 15 provides for the liability of corporate bodies. Under regulation 16 a court may require persons convicted of an offence under these Regulations to remedy those matters for which they were convicted. Under regulation 17 persons authorised by the Health and Safety Executive or the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland may, except in Scotland, prosecute an offence under these Regulations. Regulation 18 provides that no criminal proceedings for an offence under these Regulations may be instituted in England and Wales except by an enforcing authority or by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions and in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. Regulation 19 provides that the Crown will not be criminally liable for any contravention of these Regulations. Under regulation 20 enforcing authorities may institute civil proceedings against a person where criminal proceedings are unlikely to result in an effective remedy. Regulation 21 provides for appeals against notices issued by enforcing authorities. Regulation 22 and Schedule 9 provide for service of documents. Regulation 23 and Schedule 10, provide for revocations and amendments of enactments. Schedule 1 contains a table listing provisions of REACH which enforcing authorities must enforce. Schedule 2 sets out the functions of enforcing authorities. Schedule 3 provides for arrangements between enforcing authorities responsible for the enforcement of health and safety aspects of REACH. Schedule 4 provides for matters in connection with defence exemption certificates. Schedule 5 provides for matters in relation to leaded paint. Schedule 6 sets out the powers of enforcing authorities. Schedule 7 sets out those provisions under other enactments which enable a person to act as an authorised person of an enforcing authority under these Regulations. Schedule 8 contains provisions relating to appeals against notices issued by enforcing authorities. Schedule 9 contains provisions concerning service of documents. Schedule 10 lists enactments amended or revoked under these Regulations. A transposition note and an Impact Assessment of the effect of this instrument on the costs to business have been prepared. They may be obtained from the Chemicals and Nanotechnology team, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR and at www.defra.gov.uk. Copies have been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.90.

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