UK Offence Report

Transfrontier shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel

regulation 4(2) of The Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel 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

2 It is an offence to ship radioactive waste or spent fuel into the United Kingdom from another member State except under the authority of an authorisation granted by the competent authority of the member State of origin and in accordance with that authorisation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 4(2)?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
30 November 2008
In force from
25 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 revoke and replace the Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste Regulations 1993. They continue to implement Council Directive 96/29/Euratom laying down basic standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation, and implement Directive 2006/117/Euratom on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The Regulations extend the scope of the 1993 Regulations to include spent nuclear fuel for re-processing as well as shipments of radioactive waste. In addition, they establish a procedure of deemed consent after a period of two or three months (paragraph 2(3)(b) of Schedule 1). Part 2 of the Regulations creates offences relating to the transfrontier shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel without an authorisation granted by the Environment Agency (in England and Wales), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (in Scotland) or the Chief Inspector appointed under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (in Northern Ireland). The Regulations set out the administrative procedures relating to such authorisations, and to consents required by competent authorities relating to granting the authorisations. They are enforced by the Environment Agency (in England and Wales), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (in Scotland) and the Chief Inspector appointed under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (in Northern Ireland). A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, or b on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both. A full impact assessment has been prepared and placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. It is available at www.defra.gov.uk.

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 0.90.

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