UK Offence Report

1 It is an offence for any person, without reasonable excuse— a to contravene regulation 4; b to fail to…

regulation 14(1) of The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) 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 any person, without reasonable excuse—

a to contravene regulation 4;

b to fail to comply with an obligation under regulation 11(5); or

c to provide false information to the licensing authority or the competent authority in satisfaction or purported satisfaction of an obligation imposed under regulation 11(5).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 It is an offence for any person, without reasonable excuse— a to contravene regulation 4; b to fail to comply with an obligation under regulation 11(5); or c to provide false information to the licensing authority or the competent authority in satisfaction or purported satisfaction of an obligation imposed under regu

What would breach regulation 14(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

stated as £5000, but uncapped in England and Wales by LASPO 2012 s.85(1) ("£5,000 or more, however expressed") for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015.

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 March 2015
In force from
19 July 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 the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, together with, in particular— a the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/743) (as amended by the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/398)); b the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1056) (as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/386)); and c the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/398), implement Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC (OJ No L178, 28.6.2013, p.66). Licences to search, bore for and get petroleum are granted under the Petroleum Act 1998. These Regulations make provision relating to such licences as apply in offshore waters. Regulation 3 requires the licensing authority to consider certain matters before granting such a licence or granting its consent to the transfer of such a licence. Regulation 4 requires that, except where an operator’s appointment has been terminated, in which case the operator’s functions become the responsibility of the offshore licensee, only those who have been appointed as operators may carry out offshore petroleum operations under a licence. A process for the appointment of operators is established in regulations 5 and 6, which requires that where the operator is to be appointed by the offshore licensee, the licensing authority has the power to object to the appointment. Operators are appointed in respect of offshore petroleum operations and may be appointed in relation to some or all of those operations. Regulation 7 requires that where the competent authority (being the Health and Safety Executive and the Secretary of State working together) may determine that an operator no longer has capacity to carry out its relevant requirements it must have its appointment terminated. Regulation 8 makes provision for the termination of such an appointment. The offshore licensee is responsible for operator’s functions until a new operator is appointed. Regulations 9 and 10 place obligations on the offshore licensee, including that the offshore licensee is financially responsible for action taken to prevent or remediate environmental damage, as required by Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability (OJ No L143, 30.4.2004, p.56). Regulation 13 makes provision for the revocation of licences. Regulations 11 and 12 make provision for acquisition of information by the licensing authority and the competent authority and for the disclosure of information between them. Regulation 13 makes provision for offshore licences to be terminated for failure to comply with certain provisions of these Regulations. Regulation 14 creates offences in relation to the failure to comply with certain obligations set out in, or imposed under, these Regulations. Regulation 15 makes transitional provision. Regulation 16 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. A transposition note and a full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector are annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside these Regulations 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 0.90.

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