UK Offence Report

Provision of false information

regulation 18(1) of The Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Access to Infrastructure) 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 A person (“P”) is guilty of an offence if, in circumstances falling within paragraph (2), P provides false information to the authority for the purpose of—

a inducing the authority to exercise or not to exercise any of the functions conferred on it by these Regulations; or

b inducing the authority to exercise any of those functions in

a particular way.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 18(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations 2011.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
15 September 2011
In force from
Not determined
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 form part of the implementation by the United Kingdom of Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (OJ No L 140, 5.6.2009, p.114) (“the Directive”). In particular, they implement Articles 21 and 22 of the Directive, on third party access to carbon dioxide storage sites and transport networks. The Directive is chiefly implemented by Part 1, Chapter 3 of the Energy Act 2008 (c.32) and by the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/2221) (the “2010 Regulations”) and the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (S.S.I. 2011/24) (the “Scottish Regulations”). Regulation 2 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of regulations 3 to 22, except in so far as they apply to infrastructure in Scotland or to functions which are exercised by the Scottish Ministers. 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. Regulations 3 to 6 provide definitions for terms used in the Regulations. Regulation 4 sets out which authority will exercise functions conferred by the Regulations in relation to certain types of infrastructure, depending on its location. Regulation 7 provides that, in the circumstances set out in the regulation, the authority may, when granting consent for relevant infrastructure, include conditions in that consent requiring the infrastructure to be constructed to a capacity, design or (in the case of an offshore pipeline) route different to that proposed. Regulation 8 provides that, where a pipeline requires planning permission rather than a consent that is granted by the authority, the authority may (before planning permission has been granted) require the infrastructure to be constructed to a capacity, design or (in the case of an offshore pipeline) route different to that proposed. Regulation 9 gives power to the authority, where it has served a notice under regulation 7 or 8, to serve a notice allocating the additional costs of constructing the pipeline in conformity with the requirements as to capacity, design and route. Regulation 11 provides that requirements imposed under regulation 7 or 8 will continue to apply to an onshore pipeline even where it is diverted beyond the limits permitted under the relevant construction consent. Regulation 12 provides that, where a person has previously sought to secure access to a relevant pipeline or storage site by application to the owner, but has not been able to reach agreement with the owner, he may apply to the appropriate authority for a notice granting that access. Regulation 10 allows an application for access rights to be made in relation to relevant infrastructure which has yet to be constructed, in the specified circumstances. Regulation 13 deals with compulsory modifications to the infrastructure in question, where an application has been made to an owner, and the authority is considering whether to give an access notice under regulation 12(8). Regulations 12 and 13 each set out the considerations the authority must take into account when deciding how to deal with the application, the process the authority must follow and what may be required by a notice. Regulation 14 allows for variation of notices under regulations 12 and 13 once they have been issued, either by agreement among the persons to whom notice is given or, in the case of a notice under regulation 12, by the authority if it is necessary to resolve a dispute about the notice between its recipients. Regulation 15 gives the authority powers to require information in order for the authority to decide whether to exercise any function under regulations 12, 13 or 14, and if so, how. Regulation 16 provides that no additional consent under the enactments specified in the regulation is required for the use or modification of infrastructure, if that use or modification is required by an authority under the Regulations. Regulation 17 requires the owner of infrastructure to publish information about the available capacity in that infrastructure and to update that information when there is a change in the available capacity. Regulations 18, 19 and 20 provides for the enforcement of the requirements imposed in these Regulations. Regulation 18 creates a new offence, for the giving of false information to the authority for the purpose of influencing the exercise of its functions under the Regulations.Regulation 19 provides that a failure to comply with the requirements of a notice under regulation 7 constitutes a contravention of the specified sections of the Pipe-lines Act 1962 (c.58). A failure to comply with the requirements of a notice under regulation 8 constitutes a failure to comply with the conditions of planning permission. Regulation 20 provides that the duty of a person to comply with an access notice or a modification notice is a duty owed to any person who may be affected by a failure to comply with it, and provides that any such duty may be enforced by a person to whom it is owed, as if it were a contractual right. The duty of a person to comply with an information request under regulation 15, or with the publication requirements under regulation 18, is enforceable by civil proceedings by the appropriate authority. The Schedule amends the parts of the Petroleum Act 1998 (c.17) and the Pipe-lines Act 1962 which set out the current regime for third party access to offshore pipelines, and for onshore pipelines, respectively, so that they no longer apply to carbon dioxide pipelines within the scope of the Regulations. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector has been prepared, and is available on the website of the Department of Energy and Climate Change at: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/ccs_3rd_party/ccs_3rd_party.aspx. The impact assessment and a Transposition Note setting out how these Regulations implement the relevant provisions of the Directive are annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk. Copies of the Impact Assessment and Transposition Note are also available from Brian Allison, Office of Carbon Capture and Storage, Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2AW.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of 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