UK Offence Report

Modifications to the 2005 Regulations

regulation 36 of The Railway (Licensing of Railway Undertakings) (Amendment etc.) (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

36 Regulation 5 (prohibition of unlicensed provision of services) has effect as if for paragraph (1) there were substituted— 1 Where a person is a railway undertaking to which these Regulations apply, that person may not provide a train service in Great Britain unless the person is authorised to do so— a by a railway undertaking licence which is appropriate for that train service, or b by a European licence which would be appropriate for that train service if the United Kingdom were an EEA state, and any person who provides such a service without such a licence is guilty of an offence. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 36?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person provides such a service without such a licence.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Railway (Licensing of Railway Undertakings) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

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
26 March 2019
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

(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 conferred by section 8(1) and 23 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 and paragraph 21 of Schedule 7 to, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) in order to address failures of retained EU law to operate effectively and other deficiencies (in particular under section 8(2)(a), (b), (c), (d) and (g)) arising from the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. These Regulations make amendments to legislation relating to the licensing of railway undertakings in Great Britain. Part 2 amends the existing licensing legislation. Parts 3 and 4 make consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation. Part 4 (regulation 31) also revokes Regulation (EU) 2015/171 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Part 5 makes transitional provision in respect of existing European licences granted by the Office of Rail and Road (established under section 15 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 (c. 20); section 15 was amended by the Office of Rail Regulation (Change of Name) Regulations (S.I. 2015/1682)) and pending applications for a licence so that they are treated as licences issued under the 2005 Regulations as amended by these Regulations. Part 6 makes transitory provision so that European licences issued by an EEA Member State continue to be recognised in Great Britain for two years from exit day. The effect is that in respect of all existing legislation as it applies to these licences there is no change for two years. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk

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.

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