UK Offence Report

Transitional

regulation 17(3) of The Armed Forces (Part 5 of the Armed Forces Act 2006) Regulations 2009

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

“the corresponding civil offence”, in relation to an offence under section

70 of AA 1955 or AFA 1955 or section

42 of NDA 1957, means— the act or omission constituting that offence; or if that act or omission is not punishable by the law of England and Wales, the equivalent act done or omission made in England or Wales;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 17(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Armed Forces (Part 5 of the Armed Forces Act 2006) Regulations 2009.

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 section 47K of that Act.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated 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
20 July 2009
In force from
21 July 2009
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 relate to the provisions of Part 5 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (“the Act”), and in particular to the investigation of suspected service offences, to the referral of cases and charges to the Director of Service Prosecutions (“DSP”) and commanding officers, to the procedure for bringing charges and to related powers to amend, substitute or add charges. Regulation 3 prescribes circumstances, additional to those specified in the Act, which a commanding officer must ensure that a service police force is aware of. Regulation 5 prescribes circumstances, additional to those specified in the Act, in which cases must be referred by the service police to the DSP instead of to the commanding officer of the person who is suspected of having committed a service offence. Regulation 1 brings the Regulations into force immediately primarily for the purpose of enabling a service policeman to report to a commanding officer, before 31st October 2009, that he is not aware, of any circumstances of a description prescribed by regulation 5. Where such a report has been made and certain other conditions are satisfied, the service policeman will be deemed under an order made under section 380 of the Act to have referred the case to the commanding officer under section 116(3) of the Act. Regulations 7, 8, 9 and 10 impose requirements for the provision of documents in connection with the referral of cases. Regulation 8 also deals with the provision by a commanding officer to the DSP of information about a case which has been referred to the DSP. Regulation 11 provides for the process of bringing a charge and, by reference to the Schedule, provides for the proper preparation of the charge sheet. Regulation 12 provides for who must be given the charge sheet where a commanding officer brings a charge in accordance with a direction under section 121(2) of the Act from the DSP. Regulation 13 provides for the application of regulation 11, and accordingly of the provisions of the Schedule, to the amending, substituting or adding of charges by a commanding officer. Regulation 14 provides in relation to the amendment, substitution or adding of charges by the DSP before the accused is arraigned. Regulation 15 provides for written notification to be given of the discontinuation of proceedings, the reference of a charge by the DSP to a commanding officer, the allocation or re-allocation of a charge to a service court and directions by the DSP barring proceedings. Regulation 16 provides for the delegation by commanding officers to subordinate commanders of their functions under Part 5 of the Act and under these Regulations. Regulation 1 brings the Regulations into force immediately for the purpose of enabling commanding officers to make such delegations before 31st October 2009. Regulation 17 makes transitional provision.

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.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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