UK Offence Report

Amendment to the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002

regulation 25 of The Environment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

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

25 In Schedule 1––

a for paragraph 3(b) substitute—

b directions given for the purposes of the implementation of—

i any retained EU obligations;

ii any obligations of the United Kingdom under any international agreement to which the United Kingdom is

a party; ;

b in paragraph 9B(1), for “the EU ETS Directive” substitute “retained EU obligations”;

c in paragraph 9C, for “Regulation EU 2017/852 of the Council on mercury, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1102/2008” substitute “retained EU obligations”;

d in paragraph 20—

i in sub-paragraph (1)(b) substitute—

b any provision (not being

a provision within any of paragraphs

1 to 19) that might be made by an Act of Parliament in connection with the relevant directives, other than provision—

i imposing or increasing taxation;

ii taking effect from

a date earlier than that of the making of the regulations containing the provision;

iii conferring any power to legislate by means of orders, rules, regulations or other subordinate instrument, other than rules of procedure for any court or tribunal;

iv creating any new criminal offence punishable with imprisonment for more than two years or punishable on summary conviction with imprisonment for more than three months or with

a fine. ;

ii in sub-paragraph (2)— aa omit paragraph (c); bb for paragraph (d) substitute—

d Council Directive 87/217/EEC on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution by asbestos; ; cc after paragraph (d) add—

e European Parliament and Council Directive 94/63/EC on the control of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions resulting from the storage of petrol and its distribution from terminals to service stations;

f Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste as last amended by Directive 2011/97/EU;

g Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of life vehicles as last amended by Directive (EU) 2017/2096;

h Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing

a framework for Community action in the field of water policy;

i Directive 2001/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants;

j Directive 2003/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage;

k Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from extractive industries;

l Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, as last amended by Directive 2013/56/EU;

m Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration);

n Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of waste, as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2017/997;

o Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide;

p Directive 2009/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on stage II petrol vapour recovery during refuelling of motor vehicles at service stations;

q Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control);

r Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), as it had effect immediately before 4th July 2018;

s Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on Energy efficiency;

t Directive 2013/59/EURATOM laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation;

u Directive 2015/2193/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from medium combustion plants;

v any other directive of the Council of the European Community designated by order for the purposes of this paragraph as in force on exit day. ;

iii after sub-paragraph (2), insert— 2A In sub-paragraph (1)(b)(iii), “power to legislate” does not include any power to—

a amend or extend

a power to legislate conferred other than under this paragraph;

b give directions as to matters of administration. .

e In paragraph

26 omit the definition of “the EU ETS Directive”.

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 25?

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 Environment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'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

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 March 2019
In force from
Not determined
Extent
N.I.

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 are made in exercise of the powers in section 8 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c.16) in order to address failures of retained EU law to operate effectively and other deficiencies arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Part 2 makes amendments to primary legislation concerning the environment. Part 3 makes amendments to subordinate legislation concerning the environment. Part 4 makes saving provisions in respect of amendments made to the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002 No.3153 (N.I.7)) in Part 2.

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.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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