UK Offence Report

Reporting requirements and the provision of information

regulation 8(3) of The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2008

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 A person who exports more than one tonne of fluorinated greenhouse gases from the Community each year commits an offence if he fails to comply with the requirements of Article 6.1(c) within the time limits set out in Article 6.1.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 8(3)?

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 exports more than one tonne of fluorinated greenhouse gases from the Community each year.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2008 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2009 (revoked)
Made
10 January 2008
In force from
15 February 2008
Extent
N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations give effect to Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases (OJ L 161, 14.6.2006, p. 1) (“the Council Regulation”). The term “fluorinated greenhouse gases” is defined in Article 2(1) of the Council Regulation. The Regulations extend to England, Wales and Scotland. They also extend to Northern Ireland for the purposes of importation. The Regulations apply to offshore installations. (The term “offshore installations” is defined in regulation 2(6)). The main provisions of the Regulations are as follows. Regulation 3 appoints the Secretary of State as the competent authority for the purposes of the Council Regulation. Part 2 of the Regulations (regulations 4 to 13) contains provisions which create offences for breaches of the provisions of the Council Regulation. Regulations 4 to 7 create a number of offences for failure to comply with the provisions of the Council Regulation relating to the operation of certain equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases and the recovery of such gases. Regulation 8 makes it an offence not to comply with the reporting requirements contained in Article 6 of the Council Regulation. Regulation 9 contains provisions about the information concerning fluorinated greenhouse gases which must be included in instruction manuals relating to certain equipment placed on the market. (The term “placing on the market” is defined in regulation 2(1)). Regulation 10 makes it an offence to use sulphur hexafluoride contrary to Article 8 of the Council Regulation. Regulations 11 to 13 are concerned with unlawful placing on the market and importation. Part 3 of the Regulations (regulations 14 to 20) and Schedule 1 prescribe the qualifications which are required in order to carry out certain work involving equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases or the recovery of such gases. It is an offence to carry out such work without the requisite qualification. However, by virtue of regulation 20, a person can carry out such work without the requisite qualification if he does so under the supervision of a person who has the requisite qualification. Regulation 18 makes it an offence for an employer to fail to ensure that his employees are properly qualified. Regulation 19 contains provisions relating to the training of employees by their employers. Part 4 of the Regulations (regulations 21 to 32) contains provisions relating to enforcement, offences and penalties. Regulations 21 and 22 relate to the appointment, and powers, of persons to enforce the Regulations. Such persons are appointed by the enforcing authority. (The term “enforcing authority” is defined in regulation 2(3).) Regulations 24 and 25 are concerned with enforcement and prohibition notices and appeals against such notices. A number of miscellaneous offences are created by regulation 27. Regulation 29 sets out the penalties to which a person is liable if that person commits an offence. Regulation 30 contains provisions enabling a penalty notice to be issued in respect of an offence under regulation 4 relating to certain equipment in a dwelling house. The payment of the penalty in accordance with the regulation will discharge the liability to conviction for the offence. The form of the penalty notice is set out in Schedule 2. Regulation 31 confers a power on the Secretary of State to require the disposal of products or equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases unlawfully imported or their removal from the United Kingdom or an offshore installation. Regulation 32 provides who is to enforce the Regulations. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business is available from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Global Atmosphere Division, Area 3F, Ergon House c/o 17, Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

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 “commits 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