UK Offence Report

Power to prohibit or restrict flying

article 68(4) of The Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2013

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

4 It is an offence to contravene, or permit the contravention of, or fail to comply with, any directions given under this article.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 article 68(4)?

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 permit the contravention of, or fail to comply with, any directions given under this article.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2013, 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 in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
6 November 2013
In force from
1 January 2014
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order supersedes the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007 No. 3468) as amended (“the 2007 Order”). 1 This Order sets out the provisions applicable to the Overseas Territories listed in Schedule 6 to enable the United Kingdom to comply with the Convention on International Civil Aviation (known as the Chicago Convention) and, in particular, the Annexes to that Convention. This Order replaces the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/3468), the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2008 (S,I. 2008/3125) and the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/237. 2 The general approach is to try to make this Order as user-friendly as possible; taking account of the fact that it is a legal instrument and taking account of Statutory Instrument and Government (Better Regulation) Practice. This has involved in particular— replacement of unnecessarily legalistic terms and expressions by more commonplace ones – such as “under” in place of “pursuant to” when referring to an article; splitting-up long articles with many paragraphs into a number of shorter articles (for example articles 4 and 20 in the 2007 Order); reduction in the length and complexity of sentences; removing specifications, procedures, details of content (for example in manuals) where adequate provision is made in corresponding Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements (“OTAR”) Parts; repeal of some of the Schedules if their content is fully included in the relevant OTAR Parts; replacement of “shall” by “must”, where an obligation or prohibition is imposed in the Order upon a person or organisation; implementation of gender-neutral drafting; that is avoiding the use of gender specific terms such as “he” and replacement with a gender-neutral alternative such as “the holder”, when referring to a licence or certificate holder; modernisation of language generally. 3 As this is intended to be the last major amendment to the regime the opportunity has been taken to carry out some restructuring of it so that its provisions follow a more logical sequence. In particular, the principal powers and duties vested in the Governor have been brought from the General Provisions – Part XVII – in the 2007 Order to a new Part 1 to give them greater visibility and prominence and the Interpretation article (article 156 in the 2007 Order) has been brought to the front, as article 3 of this Order. 4 Registration of aircraft: there is one substantive change relating to the qualifying requirements for registration upon which extensive consultations have taken place: the requirements for the applicant’s principal place of business (in addition to its registered office) to be located in the Territory has been removed, coupled with removal of references to “the Commonwealth” (article 16). It is generally accepted that the previous provisions were somewhat archaic and that, provided that the applicant is incorporated in a Territory, there is no need for that applicant to have its principal place of business there in order to ensure effective oversight. Apart from the above, the previous lengthy article (containing 17 paragraphs) has been divided into seven separate articles (articles 15-21). 5 Equipment of aircraft: this article has been amended by deleting the specific details of the type of instructions to be given regarding the actions to be taken in an emergency. The specific form of such instructions is for the operator to determine according to the type and size of the aircraft, unless otherwise specified in the relevant OTAR Part (article 35). 6 Minimum equipment requirements: this article has been revised to make it clear that the operator’s Minimum Equipment List (“MEL”) requires approval by the regulatory authority (article 37). 7 Composition of crew of aircraft: this article has been broken up into separate elements coupled with the removal of references to pressurisation in relation to crewing requirements and the removal of the provisions relating to flight navigators and flight engineers, neither of which are required on the types of modern aircraft that populate the Territories’ registers (articles 40-43). The provisions relating to cabin crew have been placed in a separate article (article 42). 8 In relation to restrictions on flying, the term “issue instructions” has been substituted for the term “make regulations” so as to enable the Governor’s to act without the need for adoption of the formal process of making and gazetting regulations (article 68). 9 The provisions relating to the increasing unmanned aerial activities have been revised to mirror those applicable in the UK itself and the definition has been revised in line with current International Civil Aviation Organisation practice (articles 3, 73, 191). 10 The provisions relating to weapons and munitions of war have been separated so as to distinguish clearly between purely sporting weapons and those used for military purposes (article 107 to 109). 11 The provisions relating to the transport of dangerous goods by air were previously contained in Schedule 10. The principal obligations and prohibitions contained in that schedule have been lifted up into the body of the Order and the technical instructions and implementing requirements have been set out in OTAR Part 92 (Part 12 and articles 110 to 125). 12 There have been some revisions to the performance requirements relating to aircraft in order to align them more closely with the ICAO Standards and with the provisions contained in the Operations OTARs Parts 91, 121 and 135 (articles 101 and 102). 13 The aerial works provisions have been re-written and re-structured in order to separate the different types of activity and in order to impose requirements relating to the assessment of risk and the development of standard operating procedures as an alternative to an operations manual (articles 126 to 131 and article 137). 14 The articles relating to aeronautical telecommunications were considered to be too complex and cumbersome and have been restructured with the removal of many of the implementing requirements to the relevant OTAR Part (articles 153 and 154). 15 The article relating to the use of aerodromes has been revised in the light of experience and in the context of the development in the Territories of water-borne aircraft operations. The provisions have been revised accordingly so as to apply to aerodromes generally whilst the onus remains upon the aircraft operator to satisfy itself as to their suitability for the proposed operations. The complementary article has been revised accordingly (articles 155 and 156). TABLE OF COMPARISON (This Table is not part of the Order) The following Table shows, in relation to each article of the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2007, as amended, the article of the 2013 Order in which it is reproduced. 2007 Order as amended 2013 Order 1 1 2 2 156 3 149 4 152 5 153 6 155 7 141 8 142 9 146 10 122 11 123 12 154 13 3 14 4(1) and (2) 15 4(3) to (5) 16 4(6) to (8) 17 4(9) to (12) 18 4(13) to (15) 19 4(16) 20 4(17) 21 5 22 6 23 7 24 8 25 10 26 8 27 9 28 9 29 11 30 11 31 12 32 13 33 14 34 15 35 16 36 17 37 18 38 19 39 20 40 20 41 20 42 20 43 21 44 21 45 21 46 21 47 21 48 21 49 21 50 22 51 23 52 24 53 25 54 25 55 26 56 27 57 28 58 29 59 30 60 31 61 32 62 33 63 34 64 35 65 36 66 37 67 38 68 63 69 39 70 39 71 39 72 40 73 41 74 42 75 43 76 44 77 45 78 46 79 47 80 48 81 49 82 55 83 56 84 59 85 60 86 61 87 62 88 50 89 51 90 52 91 53 92 54 93 64 94 65 95 66 96 68 97 69 98 70 99 71 100 72 101 73 102 74 103 75 104 76 105 77 106 57(1), (3) and (4) 107 57(2), (5) and (6) 108 57(7) 109 58 and Schedule 10, regulations 2, 18 and 19 110 Schedule 10, regulation 3 111 Schedule 10, regulation 4 112 Schedule 10, regulation 5 113 Schedule 10, regulation 6 114 Schedule 10, regulations 7 and 8 115 Schedule 10, regulation 9 116 Schedule 10, regulation 10 117 Schedule 10, regulation 11 118 Schedule 10, regulation 12 119 Schedule 10, regulation 13 120 Schedule 10, regulation 14 121 Schedule 10, regulation 14 122 Schedule 10, regulation 16 123 Schedule 10, regulation 17 124 Schedule 10, regulation 1 125 78 126 78 127 78 128 80 129 81 130 82 131 83 132 84 133 85 134 135 135 136 136 137 137 86 138 87 139 88 140 89 141 90 142 91 143 92 144 93 145 94 146 95 147 96 148 97 149 99 150 98 151 100 152 101 153 102 154 105 155 103 156 106 157 107 158 108 159 109 160 113 161 114 162 110 163 111 164 112 165 115 166 116 167 117 168 118 169 119 170 120 171 121 172 124 173 139 174 140 175 125 176 126 177 127 178 128 179 129 180 130 181 131 182 132 183 133 184 134 185 138 186 148 187 143 188 144 189 145 190 150 191 151 192 147 193 164 194 157 195 158 196 159 197 160 198 161 199 162 200 163 201 163 202

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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