UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Road Traffic Act 1988

regulation 2(9)(c) of The Driving and Motorcycle Riding Instructors (Recognition of European Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2016

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

4 If P uses, in relation to any person employed by P whose name is not in Part

2 of the register,

a name, title, addition or description implying that the person’s name is in that Part of the register, P is guilty of an offence unless P proves that P did not know, and had no reasonable cause to believe, that the person’s name was not in that Part of the register at the material time.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonable cause to believe.

What would breach regulation 2(9)(c)?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Driving and Motorcycle Riding Instructors (Recognition of European Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2016.

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
14 November 2016
In force from
9 December 2016
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 Part V (Driving Instruction) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”) and the associated Motor Cars (Driving Instruction) Regulations 2005 (“the 2005 Regulations”) to provide for the recognition in Great Britain of professional qualifications of motorcar driving instructors obtained in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. They also amend the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (“the 1999 Regulations”) to provide for the recognition in Great Britain of professional qualifications of motorcycle riding instructors obtained in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. They are complementary to the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”) which along with these Regulations implement in part Council Directive 2005/36/EC as last amended by Directive 2013/55/EU on the recognition of professional qualifications. Part 2 of the 2015 Regulations sets out rules for recognition of professional qualifications, including those for driving instructors and motorcycle riding instructors, where an applicant moves to Great Britain seeking to provide professional services on a temporary and occasional basis. Part 3 of the 2015 Regulations makes provision for recognition of professional qualifications, including those for driving instructors and motorcycle riding instructors, where an applicant moves to Great Britain seeking to provide professional services on an established basis. These Regulations make complementary amendments to the relevant road traffic legislation to ensure that the rights granted by the 2015 Regulations are compatible with the existing statutory provisions regulating driving instructors and motorcycle riding instructors. In particular, regulation 2(4)(a) provides that the statutory register of approved motor car driving instructors (which it is mandatory to be registered in to conduct driving instruction for payment) established under section 125 of the 1988 Act, will be split into 2 parts. Part 1 to register those who apply and satisfy the entry requirements (which will include those European driving instructors who move to Great Britain and seek to provide driving instruction services on an established basis under Part 3 of the 2015 Regulations) and Part 2 to register those European driving instructors who are entitled to provide driving instruction on a temporary and occasional basis under Part 2 of the 2015 Regulations. Associated provision is made in relation to the duration of such registration, extension of that duration, the removal of names from the register and appeals (regulations 2(5) to (8)). Regulation 2(9) amends section 135 of the 1988 Act, (which makes provision for authentication of registered motor car instructors by their official titles, certification and badges, and creates offences of falsely using such authentication) is amended to differentiate between the registration of persons in Part 1 and Part 2 of the register. Regulations 3 and 4 amend sections 126A, 128AZA and 128AZB of the 1988 Act, as prospectively inserted by the Driving Instructors Registration Act 2016. These sections make provision as to the administrative requirements in relation to the re-entry of motor car driving instructors in the register where their registration has expired after 4 years, for voluntary removal of instructor’s names from the register and for re-entry of their names after voluntary removal. The amendments provide that these sections, once in force, will only relate to Part 1 of the register. Regulation 7 amends the 2005 Regulations (which make provision in relation to the examinations and tests to be passed or satisfied for a motor car driving instructor to be entered in the register and prescribing their official title, certificate and badges) to differentiate between the registration of motor car driving instructors registered in Part 1 and Part 2 of the Register. These Regulations also amend Part V of the 1999 Regulations in relation to approved training courses for motorcycle riding (known as “Compulsory Basic Training” (“CBT”)). It is necessary to successfully complete CBT as part of the regime to become fully licenced to ride a motorcycle. Only persons authorised under Part V of the 1999 Regulations may conduct CBT courses. Regulation 6 makes provision for European motorcycle riding instructors who move to Great Britain seeking to provide courses on a temporary and occasional basis to become temporary certified instructors (for A1 motorcycle or moped riding) or temporary certified direct access instructors (for larger bikes) (where they have mutual recognition rights under Part 2 of the 2015 regulations). It also makes provision for European motorcycle riding instructors who move to Great Britain seeking to provide courses on an established basis to become certified instructors (for A1 motorcycle or moped riding) or certified direct access instructors (for larger bikes) (where they have mutual recognition rights under Part 3 of the 2015 regulations). Provision is made in regulations 7(10) and 8(10) to require the Secretary of State to review Part V of the 1999 regulations and the whole of the 2005 regulations within five years of these Regulations coming into force and within every five years after that. An Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. An Explanatory memorandum and transposition note is available alongside the instrument on the www.legislation.gov.uk website. Copies have also been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. The Directives referred to above can be found at http://eur-lex.europa.eu.

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 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