UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) Regulations 2008

the instrument as a whole of The Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) 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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 35 and 36 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Award) Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 35 and 36 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
12 March 2008
In force from
2 April 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations set out the procedure that will apply to the grant of wireless telegraphy licences at the frequency between 1452 MHz to 1492 MHz. To apply, a body corporate must deliver the documents required by regulation 4(3) to the Office of Communications (“OFCOM”) on a day specified by OFCOM on their internet website. An initial deposit of fifty thousand pounds must also be paid to OFCOM (regulation 4(3)(b)). An applicant will not be qualified to bid where a member of its bidder group is also a member of another bidder group (regulation 7(2)). OFCOM will determine which applicants are qualified to bid in the auction, taking into account the matters set out in regulation 7(3). Under regulation 8, OFCOM will publish the names of all applicants qualified to bid on their internet website. OFCOM will follow the procedure in Part 4 of these Regulations where there is only one bidder, or the procedure in Part 5 of these Regulations where there is more than one bidder. Under Part 4, where there is only one bidder OFCOM will give the bidder a notice, setting out the deadline by when the completed lot selection menu must be provided to OFCOM and the deadline by when the bidder must transfer to OFCOM the balance of the licence fee (regulation 11). Under Part 5, the process for the award of licences will consist of two stages. The first stage, called the auction stage, is the procedure set out in Chapters 2 to 5 of Part 5. During the auction stage there will be an auction with at least two rounds during which bidders will be able to make bids for a selection of lots (a term defined in regulation 2). OFCOM will determine the winning bids in accordance with regulation 41, and will determine the price payable in respect of each winning bid in accordance with regulation 43 and Schedule 6. The second stage, called the grant stage, is the procedure set out in Chapter 6 of Part 5. OFCOM will grant licences to winning bidders and refund any sums due to winning bidders under regulation 47(1)(b). If in relation to an applicant which is qualified to bid or a bidder OFCOM are satisfied that certain events are occurring or have occurred and that the occurrence would materially affect the outcome of the award process, the applicant or bidder concerned will forfeit sums on deposit held by OFCOM and may be excluded from the award process (regulation 49). A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect these Regulations will have on the cost to business has been prepared. Copies of the impact assessment and copies of the publication referred to on page 19 of these Regulations are available to the public from the OFCOM library at Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA, telephone 020 7981 3000 or on the OFCOM internet website at www.ofcom.org.uk. Copies of the impact assessment have also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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