UK Offence Report

Prohibition on the supply of a relevant amount of wood without a notice

regulation 8(2) of The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020

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 A person who contravenes the prohibition in paragraph (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 8(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes the prohibition in paragraph (1).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) 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
7 October 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 are made under section 87 of the Environment Act 1995 (c. 25). They make provision restricting the sale of certain solid fuels, and provide for the enforcement of breaches of these Regulations by a local authority. Part 1 of the Regulations provides that they come into force, for the purpose of appointing a certification body under either regulation 5 or 11, on the day after they are made, and for all other purposes on 1st May 2021. Part 2 of the Regulations relates to the supply of wood in amounts of under two cubic metres. It is an offence to supply such wood unless it has been certified, under regulation 5 of that Part, and unless it is accompanied by the information specified in regulation 4. The penalty for an offence committed under Part 2 is a fine. However, under regulation 6, nothing in Part 2 of the Regulations applies to a small forester (as defined in regulation 6(2)) for a year following the coming into force of the offences in the Regulations. Part 3 of the Regulations relates to the supply of wood in amounts of two cubic metres or more. It is an offence punishable by a fine to supply such an amount of wood without the accompanying words specified in Schedule 2. Part 4 of the Regulations makes provision in respect of the supply of manufactured solid fuels. A person must not supply a manufactured solid fuel that is not an authorised fuel within the meaning of that Part, or supply a manufactured solid that is not on the list maintained by the Secretary of State under regulation 12. Regulation 11 provides for the appointment by the Secretary of State of an approved manufactured solid fuel certification body. It also deems a fuel that is on the list under Part 3 of the Clean Air Act 1993 (c. 11) immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations to be an authorised fuel (but only for as long as that fuel remains on the list). Part 5 makes provision relating to the supply of bituminous coal. It is an offence to supply pre-bagged and loose bituminous coal. However, an Approved Coal Merchant will not commit the offence of selling loose bituminous coal to a consumer where the coal is sold directly to a consumer during the two-year period ending with 30th April 2023. Part 6 makes provision for the enforcement of the Regulations by a local authority. Part 7 provides for review of the operation of the Regulations for the purpose of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (c. 26). A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF, and is published with an Explanatory Memorandum alongside these Regulations on https://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.

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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