UK Offence Report

Amendment of regulation 58

regulation 18 of The Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) Regulations 2012

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

18 In regulation 58 (offence of breaching licence condition), for paragraph (1) substitute—

1 It is an offence for

a person to contravene or fail to comply with

a licence condition. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 18?

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 or fail to comply with a licence condition.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) Regulations 2012, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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 2012
In force from
16 August 2012
Extent
E+W

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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/490) (“the 2010 Regulations”), which make provision transposing Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (“the Habitats Directive”) and certain aspects of Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds (“the Birds Directive”). These Regulations extend to England and Wales. They also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland to a limited degree. Regulation 7 provides that Part 6 of the 2010 Regulations has effect in relation to plans and projects affecting European sites in the United Kingdom, and regulation 19 provides that the assessment and review provisions of that Part apply in relation to plans and projects not specifically mentioned in that Part. Regulation 8 substitutes regulation 9 of the 2010 Regulations, to provide that public bodies must exercise their conservation functions so as to comply with the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Regulation 8 also inserts regulation 9A, which imposes new duties on public bodies in relation to wild bird habitat, and regulation 9B, which requires nature conservation bodies to review and report on whether the obligations under regulation 9A have been met. Regulations 10 to 15 simplify the provisions applying to cases where land which is a site of special scientific interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c.69) is also a European site under the 2010 Regulations. Regulation 16 provides that management schemes may be established for European marine sites in order to secure compliance with the requirements of the Birds Directive as well as the Habitats Directive. Regulation 17 removes a restriction on the making of byelaws or orders for the protection of European marine sites. Regulation 22 inserts regulation 129A of the 2010 Regulations, concerning research and scientific work for the purposes of the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Regulation 23 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of the 2010 Regulations and publish a report within five years after these Regulations come into force and within every five years after that. A transposition note and full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector are available from the International Protected Areas team, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Bristol BS1 6EB, and are published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.90.

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