UK Offence Report

Offences and Penalties

regulation 17(1) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Collection of Contact Details etc and Related Requirements) Regulations 2020 (revoked)

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 A relevant person commits an offence if they contravene, without reasonable excuse,

a requirement imposed upon them by—

a regulation 6;

b regulation 7;

c regulation 8;

d regulation 10;

e regulation 11;

f regulation 13;

g regulation 15.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses reasonably practicable; which element that governs was not determined; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A relevant person commits an offence if they contravene, without reasonable excuse, a requirement imposed upon them by— a regulation 6; b regulation 7; c regulation 8; d regulation 10; e regulation 11; f regulation 13; g regulation 15.

What would breach regulation 17(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.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravene, without reasonable excuse, a requirement imposed upon them by— a regulation 6.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Collection of Contact Details etc and Related Requirements) Regulations 2020, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
17 September 2020
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 impose a number of obligations on relevant persons, in order to protect against the risks arising from coronavirus. These obligations are as follows. Regulation 5 provides who the regulations apply to, in particular to a relevant person (as defined in regulation 4) who occupies relevant premises (also as defined in regulation 4). The regulation makes clear that where relevant premises are hired or used by more than one relevant person on a temporary basis, any obligations under the regulations will apply to that person for the time during which they hire or use the premises. The regulation also provides that the requirements in regulation 16 do not apply to relevant persons providing services in Part 2 of the Schedule. Regulation 6 provides that relevant persons must display and make available a QR code at relevant premises they occupy or operate to enable certain individuals who seek to enter the premises (in the circumstances in regulation 9) to scan that QR code. Regulation 7 provides the requirement to request certain details (as set out in regulation 10), where an individual seeks to enter relevant premises (in a case set out in regulation 9), unless that individual is under 16 or has a mental or physical disability that means they are unable to provide the details. Regulation 8 provides the requirement to request details where a group of individuals seek to enter relevant premises. In particular, the relevant person must request that where a member of the group has not scanned the QR code, every member of the group provides the details, (up to a maximum of 6 members), or one person does so in place of any other member. Again there are exemptions for individuals who are under 16 or who have a physical or mental disability that means they are unable to provide the details. Regulation 9 sets out the circumstances in which the requirements apply together with a number of exemptions. Regulation 10 provides the details to be requested and regulation 11 provides additional requirements where an individual is accessing services from only one person at the relevant premises. Regulations 12 to 15 provide that any information collected must be retained securely for a period of 21 days and disclosed to the Secretary of State at his request for the purpose of contact tracing. This is to enable the Secretary of State to contact those who may have been infected by, or exposed to, coronavirus, and to receive relevant advice. Regulation 16 provides that where certain services are provided, as listed in Part 1 of the Schedule, the person providing the service must take all reasonable steps to prevent access to an individual who refuses to provide the requisite details, or where none of the group has done so in accordance with the regulations. This requirement applies where the information collected is incomplete or the relevant person believes it to be inaccurate. Regulation 17 provides that it is an offence to contravene an obligation imposed by these regulations and regulation 18 provides for the imposition of fixed penalty notices. The Secretary of State must carry out a review of the needs for the requirements imposed by these Regulations within the period of six months of them coming fully into force. The regulations expire within the period of twelve months of that date. No regulatory impact assessment has been provided for these Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

Both Houses had to approve this instrument before it could take effect, and did so.

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 →

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