UK Offence Report

Annual canvass

regulation 32ZA(3) of The Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Description of Electoral Registers and Amendment) Regulations 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

3 The canvass form in paragraph (2) must—

a require the full name and nationality of each person aged

16 and over who is eligible to register and is residing at the address to which the form is given;

b require an indication as to whether—

i there is no one residing at the address;

ii the address is solely of business premises;

iii none of the people residing at the address is entitled to be registered by reason of their nationality, together with

a statement of their nationalities;

iv none of the people residing at the address is entitled to be registered for any reason other than their nationality and

a statement of why they are not so entitled;

c include space for

a bar code, local authority reference number and security code unique to each form;

d include

a statement that the occupier or (if there is no occupier or it is not reasonably practicable for the occupier to provide the required information) the person in charge of the premises, must provide the required information to the registration officer for the area which includes the address to which the form was delivered, and the manner in which they may do so;

e include an explanation of the requirements for entitlement to register to vote and state that this form is not an application to register;

f include

a statement that the information provided in the application will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and as to what information will appear on the electoral register;

g include

a statement that failure to provide the information required by the canvass form to the registration officer may be an offence and

a statement of the maximum penalty for that offence;

h include

a statement that it is an offence to provide false information to the registration officer, and

a statement of the maximum penalty for that offence;

i include

a signed declaration that the information provided is true, to be made by

a named person at the address to which the form is given and include an indication, if the person who is signing the declaration is not resident at the address, of the capacity in which they are signing;

j include space for the email address and telephone number or numbers of each person residing at the address who is entitled to register to vote and an explanation that provision of this information is not mandatory;

k include space for the registration officer to provide local authority information and details of how the registration officer may be contacted;

l include the web site address of the digital service; and

m require the date of completion of the form.

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
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonably practicable.

What would breach regulation 32ZA(3)?

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 provide false information to the registration officer, and a statement of the maximum penalty for that offence.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Description of Electoral Registers and Amendment) Regulations 2013.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
18 December 2013
In force from
Not determined
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 the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 (“the principal Regulations”) in order to implement the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, which amends the Representation of the People Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”). The Act provides for a new system of individual electoral registration in Great Britain and makes various electoral administrative changes relating mainly to absent voters and the timetable for issuing forms to voters. Regulations 10 and 11 amend and expand regulation 26 of the principal Regulations to deal with applications for registration under the new system and insert new regulation 26A into the principal Regulations. The amended regulation 26 prescribes the form and content of applications under sections 10ZC or 10ZD of the 1983 Act, in particular requiring the applicant to provide their date of birth and national insurance number as evidence that they are the person named in the application. Regulation 26(3) confers the function of designing the paper application form on the Electoral Commission and prescribes the information which must be included in it. Regulation 26(9) allows applications to be made online through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. Regulation 26(8) allows an electoral registration officer to accept applications through assisted means, either by telephone or in person. The new regulation 26A deals with applications for alteration of a name on the register. Regulation 26B makes provision for cases where certain information required by regulation 26 is not available or where a registration officer considers that additional evidence is necessary to verify the identity of a person. The registration officer may require prescribed alternative or additional documentary evidence that a person is the person named in the application. If the person is unable to provide that evidence, they may instead be required to provide an attestation under regulation 26B(5). There are special provisions relating to service electors and overseas electors. Regulation 14 inserts into the principal Regulations new regulations 29ZA and 29ZB on the verification of information provided in an application. Regulation 29ZB deals with the processing of information, including the retention and deletion of information, and provides that an offence will be committed if information is disclosed in breach of the regulation. Regulation 21 amends regulation 31I of the principal Regulations to include additional orders and injunctions for the purpose of an application for an anonymous entry in the electoral register. Regulation 22 inserts new regulations 32ZA to 32ZI into the principal Regulations. Regulation 32ZA provides for the annual canvass, including requirements for the design of the annual canvass form and the manner in which forms must be given. Regulation 32ZB provides for the steps a registration officer must take when no information is received in response to a form. Regulations 32ZC and 32ZD provide for invitations to apply for registration and the steps to be taken by a registration officer to encourage a person to make an application for registration. Regulation 32ZE sets out the conditions under which a registration officer may require a person to apply for registration, including provision for the giving of a notice of the requirement. Regulations 32ZF to 32ZI allow for the imposition of a civil penalty under section 9E(7) of the 1983 Act and give details of the requirements for notice of the penalty, the payment, enforcement and cancellation of the penalty and the review of and appeals against a penalty. Regulation 24 amends the principal Regulations to allow a voter to apply for a proxy voting arrangement after 5 p.m. on the sixth day before the date of the poll (an emergency proxy vote) on grounds relating to occupation, service or employment. Regulation 25 amends regulation 56 of the principal Regulations to provide that, notwithstanding the deadline otherwise provided for in that regulation, an application to cancel or change an absent vote cannot be made after a postal vote has been returned. Regulations 26 to 30 make provision about cancellation of postal ballot papers, requiring postal voters to provide fresh signatures to registration officers, requiring registration officers to provide information to returning officers and acting returning officers and the time when ballot papers are to be issued. Regulations 32 and 33 amend the principal Regulations to make provision for a returning officer to check the personal identifiers (date of birth and signature) on every returned postal voting statement against the identifiers held on file. Regulations 34 to 36 amend the principal Regulations to require a returning officer to keep a list recording the details of every postal voting statement that was rejected and to forward that to the relevant registration officers. Regulations 37 to 40 make provision in relation to the edited register. Regulation 45 introduces Schedule 3 and prescribes a long version and a short version of a form of words which registration officers must use to describe the electoral registers and the purposes for which they are used. Regulations 41 to 43 amend the principal Regulations so as to require registration officers to provide the Electoral Commission on request one copy of any revised version of the register and make consequential amendments. An overall impact assessment in relation to the individual electoral registration scheme is available on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/IER-Impact.

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