Unregistered trailers in 1968 Convention territories

Q: Is regulation 5(1) of The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018 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 a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

regulation 5(1) of The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018

Status not determined
Strict liability
Road traffic and vehicles

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
a person to keep or use
a trailer on
a road that is—
a being used on
a journey that will involve, or has involved, entering
a country outside the United Kingdom that is
a contracting party to the Convention; and
b not registered.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 5(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.

On these words it is an offence to keep or use a trailer on a road that is— a being used on a journey that will involve, or has involved, entering a country outside the United Kingdom that is a contracting party to the Convention.
Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Trailer Registration Regulations 2018.

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.

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: 20 November 2018
In force from: Not determined
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

The Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act 2018 conferred powers on the Secretary of State to establish a registration scheme for trailers kept or used on roads and create offences relating to that scheme. These Regulations— a specify the criteria and procedure for registration, the particulars to be provided and the registration fee (regulation 4); b prohibit the keeping or use of unregistered trailers in certain categories on journeys to or through countries outside the United Kingdom that have ratified the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic (regulation 5); c govern the issue, expiry, replacement and renewal of documents relating to the registration of a trailer (regulations 6, 7 and 9); d specify the Secretary of State’s powers to ensure the accuracy of the register and impose a duty on registered keepers to notify the Secretary of State of inaccuracies (regulation 8); e impose a duty on registered keepers to notify the Secretary of State of the disposal of a registered trailer and set out how a new/subsequent keeper may become the registered keeper (regulation 10); f require that information, etc., provided to the Secretary of State in pursuance of these Regulations is provided via a digital service, with specified exceptions (regulation 11); g authorise examiners and stopping officers to require the production of a trailer registration document (regulation 12); h provide for inspections of trailers and matters related to the outcomes of such inspections (regulations 13 and 14); i require the Secretary of State to assign a registration mark (more commonly known as a registration number) to a registered trailer and allow for marks to be reassigned or withdrawn (regulation 15); j specify the shape, size and spacing of the characters in the registration mark and the physical characteristics and placement of the registration plate that bears the mark, and impose a duty to fix a plate on a registered trailer (regulations 16 and 17 and Schedule 2); k amend the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 and the Vehicles Crime (Registration of Registration Plate Suppliers) Regulations 2008 to accommodate the introduction of the trailer registration scheme (regulation 18 and Schedule 3); l create offences and provide appropriate defences relating to breaches of specified regulations (regulation 19), the keeping or use of an incorrectly registered trailer (regulation 20), the obscuring of registration marks (regulation 21), the obstruction or impersonation of a person entitled to carry out an inspection of a trailer (regulation 22) and providing false or misleading information, documents or declarations (regulation 23); m permit a chief officer of police or the Secretary of State to require a person to identify a person suspected of a specified offence relating to the keeping or use of a trailer, or provide information that may lead to the identification of the suspected person, and create an offence of failing to do so (regulation 24); n provide that any offence created under these Regulations is punishable by a maximum of a level 3 fine on summary conviction (regulation 25); o allow for admissions and records held by the Secretary of State in relation to these Regulations to be admissible in legal proceedings (regulations 26 and 27); and p require the Secretary of State to carry out a review of these Regulations from time to time (regulation 3). The 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic established common standards and rules for drivers and vehicles in international road traffic. Among other things, it permits a contracting party to refuse to admit an unregistered trailer to its territory. The Convention was ratified by the United Kingdom in March 2018 and comes into force for the United Kingdom on 28th March 2019. It is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ms-no12018-convention-on-road-traffic-as-amended and can be viewed by appointment at the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0PW (archives@parliament.uk; 020 7219 3074). Regulation 1(2) and Schedule 1 provide for the provisions in these Regulations to come into force on different dates. The provisions that are necessary to process registration applications and issue registration documents, along with closely related matters, will come into force on the day after these Regulations are made. The duties on registered keepers, such as notifying the Secretary of State of inaccuracies in the register, will come into force 21 days after the day on which these Regulations are made. This will enable registration applications to begin as soon as possible while providing those potentially affected with a reasonable period of time to adjust to the new duties. The provisions relating to the roadside enforcement of the registration scheme will come into force on 28th March 2019, the same date as the Convention comes into force for the United Kingdom. From this date, using unregistered trailers in certain categories on journeys to or through foreign countries that have ratified the Convention will be prohibited, registration marks must be displayed on registered trailers and the users of registered trailers may be required to produce registration documents. Part 3 (registration marks and plates) of this instrument and Schedule 2 contain technical standards as defined by the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive (2015/1535/EU; OJ No. L 241, 17.9.2015, p.1). The appropriate notification was sent to the European Commission in May 2018 and no comments were made during the three month standstill period. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on the UK Legislation website www.legislation.gov.uk. The impact assessment is also available from the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR (0300 330 3000).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Draft International Road Transport Permits (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 Draft Trailer Registration Regulations 2018 Commons · 6 November 2018 · Rachael Maskell
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hanson. I thank the Minister for introducing the draft regulations, following our debates during the passage of the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act. I turn first to the draft International Road Transport Permits (EU Exit) Regulations 2018. We are legislating over the abyss of the unknown with respect to whether they will be required, but clearly my…
International Road Transport Permits (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 Lords · 6 November 2018 · Lord Rosser (Lab)
I too thank the Minister for setting out the content and purpose of these draft regulations and order. I share the concerns already expressed, and will revisit only some of them due to the time constraints that I know we are under today. The draft international road transport permits regulations are laid, as are the others, under the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act 2018. That Act allows arrangements to…
Draft International Road Transport Permits (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 Draft Trailer Registration Regulations 2018 Commons · 6 November 2018 · Jesse Norman
The hon. Lady will recall that there was an extensive debate on the question whether there should be any aspect of random allocation. The whole point about random allocation is that in circumstances in which there may not be enough ECMT permits to go around, further scope would be provided by bilateral agreements under this remote contingency. If that were to be the case, random selection would, of course, be…
Delegated Legislation Commons · 12 November 2018 · Mr Speaker
With the leave of the House, I will take motions 7 to 9 together. Once again, I assure the House that I am of course conscious of how keenly aware people are of these motions, and I merely remind them that motion 7 is about Exiting the European Union (Road Traffic) and motions 8 and 9—I can almost hear a Member mouth the words under his breath—are both entitled Road Traffic. I am sure you are all very well aware of…

Other offences in the same instrument

Breaches of specified regulationsregulation 19(1)
Incorrectly registered trailersregulation 20(1)
Obscuring of registration marksregulation 21(1)
Obstruction of, or pretending to be, a person entitled to carry out an inspectionregulation 22
False or misleading information, documents or declarationsregulation 23
Duty to provide information in relation to a suspected personregulation 24(4)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Road traffic and vehiclesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2018