Offences in relation to Part 2

Q: Is regulation 8(2) of The Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015 a strict liability offence?

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 an training employer meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

regulation 8(2) of The Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015

Status not determined
Strict liability
Either way
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

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

2 A training employer who fails to comply with paragraph (1), (2) or (3) of regulation
7 commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: an training employer
Conduct: failing to do something the instrument requires
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 an training employer 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 8(2)?

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.

On these words an offence is committed where an training employer fails to comply with paragraph (1), (2) or (3) of regulation 7.
Not doing what the provision requires under the Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015, by the time it requires it to be done.
Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 9 February 2015
In force from: 7 March 2015
Extent: N.I.

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

These Regulations replace and consolidate the Ozone-Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/216) and the Environmental Protection (Controls on Ozone-Depleting Substances) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1543). These Regulations provide for the execution and enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on substances that deplete the ozone layer (OJ No L 286, 31.10.2009, p.1), as amended by Commission Regulations (EU) No 744/2010 (OJ No L218, 19.8.2010, p.2), (EU) No 1087/2013 (OJ No L293, 5.11.2013, p.28) and (EU) No 1088/2013 (OJ No L293, 5.11.2013, p.29), (“the EU Regulation”). The EU Regulation controls the production, placing on the market and use of substances that deplete the ozone layer and require that those who work on the recovery, recycling, reclamation or destruction of controlled substances and the prevention and minimising of leakages of controlled substances have minimum qualifications. The terms “controlled substances”, “recovery”, “recycling” and “reclamation” are defined in Article 3 of the EU Regulation. Regulations 4 to 7 deal with the qualifications required to be “competent” to undertake “relevant work” in relation to controlled substances. “Competent” is defined in regulation 4 and “relevant work” in regulation 5. Provisions about training are contained in regulation 6. Details of the qualifications which a person needs in order to carry out certain types of relevant work are contained in the Table in Schedule 2. Under regulation 8, it is an offence for a person to carry out relevant work involving controlled substances or work with methyl bromide unless that person is competent to do so. The term “work with methyl bromide” is defined in regulation 2. Regulation 9 provides for offences in relation to failure to comply with the EU Regulation. Regulation 10 provides for penalties in relation to the offences created by the Regulations. Regulations 12 and 13 deal with the enforcement of these Regulations by authorised persons. Regulations 14 to 19 deal with enforcement powers, notices, offences and rights of appeal. Regulation 21 contains revocations. These Regulations extend to Great Britain and extend to Northern Ireland only in so far as they relate to import and export controlled by the EU Regulation. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact is foreseen on the private, voluntary or public sectors. The Explanatory Memorandum is available at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person “commits 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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2015