UK Offence Report

Power to share information

regulation 49A(7) of The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste (Amendment) Regulations 2014

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

7 A person who breaches paragraph (5) is guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 49A(7)?

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 breaches paragraph (5).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

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
26 March 2014
In force from
1 May 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1711) (“the principal Regulations”), which enforce Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste (OJ No L 190, 12.7.2006, p.1) (“the EU Regulation”). They extend to the United Kingdom. Regulations 6 and 7 make changes to the competent authorities designated for the purposes of the EU Regulation. The Environment Agency, the Natural Resources Body for Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland are made competent authorities of destination and dispatch for the relevant part of the marine area as well as on land, and the Environment Agency is designated as the competent authority of transit. The division of the marine area is provided for by the insertion of regulation 4A of and Schedule A1 to the principal Regulations (regulation 5 and the Schedule). Regulation 11 provides for an information gateway between Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the competent authorities designated in the principal Regulations, and contains an offence for unlawful disclosure of information. Regulation 12 makes amendments with regard to enforcing authorities, including provision for the Secretary of State to assist enforcing authorities in relation to offshore installations. Regulation 15 contains a review clause. Regulation 19 provides for revised fees payable to the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland in relation to waste shipments. Under the previous fee structure, the fee for each notification of a shipment or shipments of waste to or from Northern Ireland was £450 and there was an additional £25 fee in respect of each shipment to which that notification related. That additional fee is abolished. Higher fees now apply for imports of fewer than 300 and more than 500 shipments and for exports of fewer than 220 shipments. Lower fees now apply for imports of 301 to 500 shipments and for exports of 220 shipments or more. The same fee applies for an import of 300 shipments. Regulation 21 amends Schedule 5 to the principal Regulations, providing that enforcement powers under the Environment Act 1995 (c.25) and the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/2778 (N.I. 19)) extend to the marine area, and conferring powers on persons authorised by the Secretary of State in relation to offshore installations. Schedule 5 is also amended to give additional powers to customs officials to detain waste shipments. Regulation 22 amends section 41(1)(d) of the Environment Act 1995 to include the Natural Resources Body for Wales as one of the bodies that may require payment to it of charges as a means of recovering its costs in performing functions conferred by the EU Regulation. Regulation 23 makes transitional provisions. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business is available at www.gov.uk/defra from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, EU and International Waste Unit, Area 2B, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JRL and is 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 0.92.

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