UK Offence Report

Introduction of new species from ships

regulation 54(8) of The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017

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

8 Section

14 of the WCA 1981 (introduction of new species etc.) does not apply in relation to any act which is an offence under this regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 54(8)?

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 Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 19701 — 19701 - Summary offences under Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
30 October 2017
In force from
30 November 2017
Extent
E+W

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 consolidate the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/490) with subsequent amending instruments, and make minor modifications reflecting changes to related legislation. These Regulations also implement aspects of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (c. 23) (“the Marine Act”). These Regulations extend to England and Wales (including the adjacent territorial sea). They extend to Scotland (including the adjacent territorial sea), in respect of reserved matters. They also extend to Northern Ireland (including the adjacent territorial sea), in respect of excepted matters. These Regulations transpose Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ No. L 206, 22.7.1992, p.7) (“the Habitats Directive”). Regulation 9 requires public bodies to exercise their nature conservation functions so as to comply with the Habitats Directive and the new Wild Birds Directive (as defined in regulation 3(1)). Regulation 10 imposes duties on public bodies in relation to wild bird habitats and regulation 11 requires nature conservation bodies to review and report on whether the obligations under regulation 10 have been met. Regulations 12 to 19 make provision for the selection, designation (or, in the case of special protection areas, classification), registration and notification of sites to be protected under the Habitats Directive (“European sites”). Regulations 20 to 22 make provision for management agreements for European sites. Regulations 23 to 36 make provision in respect of European sites for (i) control of damaging operations, (ii) special nature conservation orders and restoration orders, (iii) byelaws and (iv) compulsory purchase. Regulations 37 to 40 make provision for the protection of European marine sites. Part 3 provides for the protection of certain wild animals and plants. In particular, regulation 43 makes it an offence, subject to exceptions, deliberately to capture, kill or disturb those animals or to trade in them. Regulation 45 prohibits the use of certain methods of capturing or killing wild animals. Regulation 47 makes it an offence, subject to exceptions, deliberately to pick, collect, cut or destroy those plants or to trade in them. Regulation 50 imposes a duty on the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers to make arrangements for the surveillance of the conservation status of natural habitats and species protected under the Habitats Directive. Regulation 52 requires them to make arrangements to establish a system to monitor the incidental capture and killing of animals listed in Annex IV(a) to the Habitats Directive. Regulation 54 makes it an offence deliberately to introduce from a ship into the sea new species that are not native to Great Britain. Part 5 provides for the licensing of certain activities relating to animals and plants. The offences under Part 3 do not apply to anything done in accordance with a licence. Regulation 59 makes it an offence to make a false statement or representation for the purposes of obtaining a licence. Regulation 60 makes it an offence to contravene or fail to comply with a licence condition. Regulations 63 to 69 require the effect on a European site to be considered before the granting of consents or authorisations of a kind specified in regulations 70 to 104, including the grant of planning permission, plans or projects to construct or improve highways, consents under the Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29), authorisations under the Pipe-lines Act 1962 (c. 58), orders under the Transport and Works Act 1992 (c. 42), environmental permits, abstraction licences and marine works. Regulation 63 provides that a competent authority may not authorise a plan or project that may adversely affect the integrity of a European site, subject to the exceptions set out in regulation 64 (considerations of overriding public interest). Chapter 8 of Part 6 sets out similar requirements in relation to land-use plans and national policy statements, and Chapter 9 of Part 6 similar requirements in relation to marine policy statements and marine plans. Part 7 sets out the enforcement powers of wildlife inspectors and constables, including powers of entry, search and taking of samples. It also sets out certain further offences, including offences of obstruction in connection with the exercise of powers of entry and powers to take specimens and samples (regulations 123 to 125). Regulations 134 and 135 contain provisions relating to the advisory role of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, the Natural Resources Body for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage. Regulation 139 and 140 and Schedules 6 and 7 contain amendments and revocations consequential on the consolidation. Regulation 141 contains transitional provisions. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on business or the private or voluntary sector is foreseen. As regards Wales, the Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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