UK Offence Report

Records and information

regulation 6(4) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Public Health Information for International Passengers) (England) 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

4 An operator who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply— a with the requirement to keep records in paragraph (1); or b with a request under paragraph (2) to provide records or information within the period specified for the purposes of paragraph (3), 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an operator
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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 an operator 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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

4 An operator who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply— a with the requirement to keep records in paragraph (1); or b with a request under paragraph (2) to provide records or information within the period specified for the purposes of paragraph (3), is guilty of an offence.

What would breach regulation 6(4)?

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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Public Health Information for International Passengers) (England) Regulations 2020, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
3 June 2020
In force from
8 June 2020
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 requirements on persons (“operators”) operating commercial transport services for passengers travelling to England by sea, air or rail from outside the open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland (the “common travel area” by virtue of section 1(3) of the Immigration Act 1971 (c. 77)). Regulation 3 requires operators to ensure that passengers who arrive in England on such services, other than during an exemption period (determined in accordance with regulation 5), have been provided with certain public health information in the required manner (see regulation 4), on three separate occasions. Breach of this requirement is an offence. Regulation 6 requires operators to keep records and to provide authorised persons (see regulation 2) with copies of those records and other information about how they are complying with the requirement to provide information to passengers. Breach of these requirements is also an offence. Regulation 7 allows authorised persons to deal with offences under regulation 3 by a fixed penalty notice. Regulation 8 allows authorised persons to bring prosecutions for offences under these Regulations. Regulation 9 requires the Secretary of State to review these Regulations every 21 days. Regulation 10 provides that these Regulations expire 12 months after they come into force. Hard copies of the required information and the required manner in which it must be provided, and of any statements starting or ending an exemption period under regulation 5, may be obtained by completing the electronic form on the “contact us” section of the Department for Transport gov.uk page (https://forms.dft.gov.uk/contact-dft-and-agencies/) or by telephoning 0300 330 3000. A full impact assessment has not been completed due to the urgent nature of this instrument. An Explanatory Memorandum has been published alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

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 →

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 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