UK Offence Report

Adjudicator’s power to require attendance of witnesses and production of documents

paragraph 5(6) of SCHEDULE of The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) 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

6 Any person who fails to comply with

a requirement made under sub-paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 paragraph 5(6) of SCHEDULE?

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 an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with a requirement made under sub-paragraph (1).
  2. Being served with a notice under the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2013 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
26 February 2013
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 which apply to Wales, make provision entitling a person who is or may be liable to pay a penalty charge in respect of a road traffic contravention or who secures the release of a vehicle from an immobilisation device which has been fixed to it on account of such a contravention, to make representations to the enforcement authority regarding liability for those charges and to appeal to an adjudicator if those representations are not accepted. These Regulations should be read in conjunction with the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (General Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (S.I.2013/362) (“the General Provisions Regulations”) and the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) Removed Vehicles (Wales) Regulations 2013 (S.I.2013/361 (W.43)). These Regulations revoke and replace the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2008 (S.I.2008/608). Part 1 contains preliminary provisions. Part 2 concerns representations and appeals against penalty charge notices and notices to owner given under the General Provisions Regulations. Regulation 3 defines the scope of Part 2 and specifies the information to be given to the recipients of penalty charge notices and notices to owner. Regulation 4 confers on the recipient of a notice to owner or penalty charge notice given under regulation 10 of the General Provisions Regulations the right to make representations to the enforcement authority which served it. Regulations 5 and 6 set out the duties of an enforcement authority to which representations are made. Regulation 7 enables a person who has made representations under regulation 4 to appeal to an adjudicator against an enforcement authority’s rejection of those representations. Part 3 makes equivalent provisions to Part 2 for representations and appeals in relation to vehicles which have been immobilised in accordance with the General Provisions Regulations. Regulation 8 confers, on the owner or person in charge of a vehicle who secures its release from an immobilisation device , a right to make representations to the enforcement authority and to appeal to an adjudicator, where those representations are rejected. The enforcement authority is required to inform the person securing the release of the vehicle of their rights in writing. The basis for making representations is specified in regulation 8(4) and (5). Regulation 9 sets out the duties of an enforcement authority to which representations are made and regulation 10 provides for an appeal to be made to an adjudicator where representations are rejected under regulation 9. Part 4 relates to offences and procedure. Regulation 11 creates an offence of making false or reckless representations under these Regulations. Regulation 12 introduces the Schedule, which makes detailed provision as to the procedure to be followed in adjudication proceedings, the service of documents in such proceedings and the requirements to keep a register. Otherwise the procedure is in the discretion of the adjudicator. Regulation 13 revokes the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/608). A full Regulatory Impact Assessment and Explanatory Memorandum can be obtained from the Public Transport Division, Transport, Local Government and Communities, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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