UK Offence Report

1 It is an offence for a manufacturer to contravene or fail to comply with any requirement of— a regulation…

regulation 62(1) of The Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015

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

1 It is an offence for

a manufacturer to contravene or fail to comply with any requirement of—

a regulation 6 (categorisation);

b regulation 7 (design and manufacture in accordance with essential safety requirements);

c regulation 8 (technical documentation and conformity assessment);

d regulation 9 (EU declaration of conformity and CE marking);

e regulation 10 (retention of technical documentation and EU declaration of conformity);

f regulation 11 (labelling of pyrotechnic articles other than pyrotechnic articles for vehicles);

g regulation 12 (labelling of pyrotechnic articles for vehicles);

h regulation 13 (compliance procedures for series production);

i regulation 20 (traceability);

j regulation 21 (monitoring);

k regulation 22 (duty to take action in respect of pyrotechnic articles placed on the market which are considered not to be in conformity);

l regulation 23 (provision of information and cooperation);

m regulation 31 (prohibition on making available to persons younger than the minimum age limit);

n regulation 32 (prohibition on making available to persons without specialist knowledge);

o regulation 33 (prohibitions on making available certain category F2 and F3 fireworks);

p regulation 34 (prohibition on making pyrotechnic articles for vehicles available to members of the general public);

q regulation 35 (supply of safety data sheet);

r regulation 36 (translation of EU declaration of conformity);

s regulation 37 (identification of economic operators);

t regulation 38 (prohibition on improper use of CE marking).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 manufacturer
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 manufacturer 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 62(1)?

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 any requirement of— a regulation 6 (categorisation).
  2. Being served with a notice under the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015 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
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
19 July 2015
In force from
17 August 2015
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations transpose Directive 2013/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12th June 2013 on the harmonisation of the laws of member States relating to the making available on the market of pyrotechnic articles (recast) (OJ L 178, 28.6.2013, p.27) (“the Directive”) and Commission Implementing Directive 2014/58/EU setting up a system for the traceability of pyrotechnic articles (OJ L 155, 17.4.2014, p.28). The Directive repeals and replaces Directive 2007/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23rd May 2007 on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles (OJ L 154, 14.06.2007, p.1) which was implemented in the United Kingdom by the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1554) (as amended). These Regulations revoke and replace S.I. 2010/1554. Regulation 3 defines “pyrotechnic article”. Regulations 4 and 5 provide exceptions allowing the use of pyrotechnic articles which are not in conformity with Part 2 for the purposes of trade fairs, exhibitions, demonstrations, research, testing and development. Part 2 sets out the obligations of economic operators. Regulations 6 to 13 set out the obligations that are specific to manufacturers. These obligations include ensuring that a pyrotechnic article has been designed and manufactured in accordance with the essential safety requirements set out in Schedule 2, having a relevant conformity assessment procedure carried out before the pyrotechnic article is placed on the market, affixing the CE marking and labelling the pyrotechnic article. Regulations 14 to 19 set out the obligations that are specific to importers. These obligations include ensuring that they are not placing on the market pyrotechnic articles which are not in conformity with the essential safety requirements, checking that the manufacturer has carried out a relevant conformity assessment procedure and labelled the pyrotechnic articles correctly and indicating on the pyrotechnic article the name and address of the importer. Regulations 20 to 23 set out the obligations that manufacturers and importers have, but distributors do not. These obligations include maintaining records of the registration numbers assigned to pyrotechnic articles and monitoring pyrotechnic articles which have been placed on the market. Regulations 24 to 28 set out the obligations that are specific to distributors. These obligations include acting with due care to ensure that pyrotechnic articles are in conformity with Part 2 and checking that the pyrotechnic articles bears the CE marking and are labelled correctly. Regulations 29 and 30 set out the provisions that apply to importers and distributors, but not to manufacturers. These obligations include an obligation to ensure that the storage and transport of a pyrotechnic article do not jeopardise its conformity with the essential safety requirements. Regulations 31 to 38 set out obligations that manufacturers, importers and distributors have. These obligations include not making pyrotechnic articles available to persons beneath the minimum age limits. They include not making category F4 fireworks, category T2 theatrical pyrotechnic articles or category P2 other pyrotechnic articles available to persons without specialist knowledge. The meaning of “person with specialist knowledge” is set out in Schedule 4. They also include an obligation to identify other economic operators in the supply chain. Part 3 sets out provisions concerning the conformity assessment procedure, declarations of conformity and CE marking. Part 4 sets out provisions concerning the bodies which carry out conformity assessment procedures under the Regulations. Part 5 sets out provisions for market surveillance and enforcement. Regulation 52 identifies the market surveillance authority which has an obligation to enforce the Regulations in respect of each category of pyrotechnic article. Regulation 54 and Schedule 7, 8 and 9 provide for the enforcement powers which the enforcing authorities are to have. Regulation 62 provides for the contravention of provisions of these Regulations to be an offence. Regulation 63 sets out the penalties that are to apply for offences under these Regulations. Part 6 sets out transitional provisions and consequential amendments. Until 5th July 2017, Part 2 will not apply to designs of category F1 firework, F2 firework and F3 firework which were lawfully manufactured or placed on the market before 4th July 2010 or to designs of other categories of pyrotechnic article lawfully manufactured or placed on the market before 4th July 2013. Regulation 75 makes consequential amendments, including to section 31 of the Explosives Act 1875 (c.17). A transposition note and full impact assessment of the impact that these Regulations will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector are available from the Single Market Product Safety Team, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET and are also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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