UK Offence Report

Liability of persons other than principal offender

regulation 68(2) of The Radio Equipment 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

2 Where a body corporate commits an offence, a relevant person is also guilty of the offence where the body corporate’s offence was committed— a with the consent or connivance of the relevant person, or b as a result of the negligence of the relevant person.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 body corporate
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 body corporate 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 68(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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Radio Equipment Regulations 2017.

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
4 December 2017
In force from
26 December 2017
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 transpose Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC (OJ L 153, 22.5.2014, p.62) (“the Directive”). The Directive repeals and replaces Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity (OJ L 91, 7.4.1999, p.10) which was implemented in the United Kingdom by the Radio Equipment and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/730). These Regulations revoke and replace S.I. 2000/730. Regulations 3 to 5 set out the application of the Regulations to radio equipment, as defined in regulation 2. Regulation 2 contains definitions of many of the terms used in the Regulations. Part 2 sets out the obligations of economic operators. Regulation 6 defines what are the essential requirements that radio equipment must meet, which include the protection of the health and safety of persons, the protection of property, ensuring an adequate level of electromagnetic compatibility with other equipment, and avoiding harmful interference in the radio spectrum . Regulations 7 to 18 set out the obligations that are specific to manufacturers. Obligations include ensuring that radio equipment has been designed and manufactured in accordance with the essential requirements, having a relevant conformity assessment procedure carried out before the radio equipment is placed on the market and affixing the CE marking. Regulation 19 sets out the obligations which an authorised representative, appointed by a manufacturer, must and must not perform on the manufacturer’s behalf. It also provides that the authorised representative, as well as the manufacturer, is then responsible for the performance of those obligations Regulations 20 to 29 set out the obligations that are specific to importers. These obligations include that the importer must not place on the market radio equipment which is not in conformity with the essential requirements, must check that the manufacturer has carried out a relevant conformity assessment procedure and must ensure the radio equipment bears the name and address of the importer. Regulation 25 includes an obligation to ensure that, while the importer is responsible for radio equipment, the storage and transport of the radio equipment does not jeopardise its conformity with the essential requirements. Regulations 30 to 35 set out the obligations that are specific to distributors. These obligations include acting with due care to ensure that radio equipment is in conformity with Part 2 when making it available on the market, and checking that radio equipment bears the CE marking. Regulation 33 contains an obligation to ensure that, while the distributer is responsible for radio equipment, the storage and transport of the radio equipment does not jeopardise its conformity with the essential requirements. Regulations 37 to 39 set out obligations which apply to all economic operators. These obligations include making sure that the EU declaration of conformity is in English before radio equipment is placed on the market in the United Kingdom. Those regulations also include an obligation to identify other economic operators in the supply chain on request from a market surveillance authority and a prohibition on the improper use of the CE marking. Part 3 sets out provisions concerning the conformity assessment procedures, declarations of conformity and CE marking for radio equipment. 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 of these Regulations. Regulation 55 identifies the market surveillance authorities and regulation 56 identifies the enforcing authorities. Regulation 57 and Schedule 10 provide for the powers of the enforcing and market surveillance authorities. Regulation 65 provides for the contravention of certain provisions of these Regulations to be an offence. Regulation 66 sets out the penalties that are to apply for offences under these Regulations. Part 6 sets out a review provision and transitional provisions and consequential amendments. Regulation 78 revokes the Radio Equipment and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/730) (as amended) and provides that they continue to apply to radio equipment placed on the market before the date these Regulations come into force. Regulations 79 to 85 make consequential amendments. 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, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 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

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 0.92.

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