UK Offence Report

Authorisation of frequency use for the provision of mobile satellite services

regulation 2(1) of The Authorisation of Frequency Use for the Provision of Mobile Satellite Services (European Union) Regulations 2010

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 A person commits an offence if that person uses the frequency bands 1980 to 2010MHz and 2170 to 2200MHz or any part of those bands for the provision of mobile satellite services except under and in accordance with an authorisation granted under these Regulations by OFCOM.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 2(1)?

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 Authorisation of Frequency Use for the Provision of Mobile Satellite Services (European Union) Regulations 2010.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2010-03-31); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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 Authorisation of Frequency Use for the Provision of Mobile Satellite Services (European Union) (Revocation etc.) Regulations 2026
Revoked on
14 May 2027
Made
8 March 2010
In force from
31 March 2010
Extent
Not stated

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 implement in the United Kingdom the European Parliament and Council Decision 626/2008/EC of 30 June 2008 on the selection and authorisation of systems providing mobile satellite services (the EU Decision) and the Commission Decision 2009/449/EC of 13 May 2009 on the selection of operators of pan-European systems providing mobile satellite services (the Commission Decision). Regulation 2 creates a new criminal offence of use of frequency bands 1980 to 2010MHz and 2170 to 2200MHz for the provision of mobile satellite services except under and in accordance with an authorisation granted by OFCOM. Regulation 3 places an obligation on OFCOM to grant an authorisation to each of the selected applicants, as defined in regulation 1 subject to the conditions set out in regulation 4. Regulation 5 requires OFCOM to monitor compliance by the selected applicants of the conditions of their authorisations. OFCOM must also report to the Commission any contravention by either of the selected applicants of any such condition or any enforcement action taken by OFCOM against either of the selected applications. Regulation 5(3) confers a power on OFCOM to require the selected applicants to provide information necessary for OFCOM to carry out their functions under these Regulations. Regulation 6 provides for a notification procedure where OFCOM determine that there has been a contravention by a selected applicant of a condition of its authorisation or a requirement under regulation 5(3) or (4). Regulation 7 gives OFCOM the power to impose a penalty on a selected applicant who has received a notification under regulation 6 where OFCOM are satisfied that that person has failed to comply with its authorisation or the requirement under regulation 5(3) or (4) and has failed to remedy any consequences of the notified contravention. Regulation 8 provides for the amount of penalty which may be imposed by OFCOM under regulation 7, and that penalty may not exceed 10% of the turnover of the notified person’s “relevant business” for the “relevant period”, as defined in regulation 8. Regulation 9 specifies how the turnover of the “relevant business” is to be calculated for the purposes of regulation 8. Regulations 10 to 12 provide that a person affected by a decision of OFCOM under these Regulations, other than decisions taken by OFCOM under regulation 13, may appeal that decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Decisions of the Competition Appeal Tribunal may be appealed on a point of law to the Court of Appeal or the Court of Session in Scotland. Regulation 13 requires OFCOM to exercise their functions under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 so as to give effect to the obligations of the United Kingdom under the EU Decision and the Commission Decision insofar as the implementation of such obligations is not covered by these Regulations. A full Regulatory Impact Assessment and Transposition Note have been produced. Copies may be obtained from Tracey Halsey, Business Relations Directorate (BR2), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET.

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 0.92.

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