UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 11(1) of The Energy Information Regulations 2011

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

1 It is an offence for any person to contravene any of regulations 7 to 10.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 11(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. On these words it is an offence to contravene any of regulations 7 to 10.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Energy Information Regulations 2011, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

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

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
20 June 2011
In force from
20 July 2011
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 implement the requirements of Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p1). They also implement elements of the market surveillance Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 (“RAMS”) (OJ L 128 13.8.2008, p 30). They give effect to any EU measures which are made pursuant to the Directive. Regulation 3 provides that the Regulations apply to energy-related products which have a significant direct or indirect impact on the consumption of energy and other resources. Regulation 4 provides for enforcement. Regulation 5 provides that the market surveillance authority may authorise any suitable person to act for it. Regulation 7 sets out the requirements which must be met by a supplier when supplying a product. Regulation 8 sets out the responsibilities of dealers when selling a product. Regulation 9 provides that when products are offered for sale or hire directly or indirectly information about the energy consumption of a product must be brought to the attention of the end-user and made available as required by the EU measure set out in Schedule 1. Regulation 10 prohibits the display of labels, marks, symbols or inscriptions which do not comply with these Regulations which would mislead or confuse end-users about the consumption of energy or other resources during use. Regulations 11 to 15 set out offences, penalties and related matters. Regulation 17 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within 5 years after they come into force and within every 5 years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. Schedule 2 provides for powers of entry, search and seizure and the procedure for obtaining a warrant. Schedule 3 provides that the market surveillance authority may buy and test products to ensure compliance and recover the costs of testing non-compliant products from suppliers. Schedule 4 provides for civil sanctions which the market surveillance authority may impose in relation to an offence committed under regulation 11. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available at the Department for Business Innovation & Skills, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET and is published withthe Explanatory Memorandumalongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk

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.

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