UK Offence Report

Offences and defences

paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 4 of The Road Vehicles (Approval) 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

1 A person commits an offence if—

a that person supplies

a recordable trailer,

b the trailer is supplied for use on

a road, and

c none of the conditions specified in sub-paragraph (2) is met.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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 paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 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. Selling the goods under the Road Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2020 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 82525 — 82525 - Summary offences under Road Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2020 (MOT). That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
3 August 2020
In force from
1 September 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 make provision in connection with Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles (OJ No. L 151, 14.6.2018, p.1) (“the Type Approval Regulation”). In particular, they: appoint the Secretary of State as the approval authority and the market surveillance authority for the purposes of the Type Approval Regulation (regulations 3 and 4) specify when the Secretary of State may treat any application as having been withdrawn by the manufacturer (regulation 5) or when it must be refused (regulation 6) require the holder of a type approval to retain certain records (regulation 7) provide for a review procedure in respect of notices given in connection with decisions taken pursuant to the Type Approval Regulation, etc. (regulation 8) specify when and how an approval may be withdrawn (regulation 9) and the effect of such a withdrawal or a suspension (regulation 10) set out how any notice or other document is to be served by the approval authority, market surveillance authority or enforcement authority (regulation 11) authorise the approval authority to provide and maintain testing stations and apparatus to use for examination of products for the purposes of the Type Approval Regulation (regulation 12) provide that breach of the duty to provide certain technical information which causes a person to sustain loss or damage is actionable at the suit of that person, and that a defence is available to the manufacturer where they have exercised all due diligence (regulation 13) provide for an offence of placing on the market or registering a vehicle that is fitted with a defeat system (regulation 14) provide for applications for, and the granting of, national small series type approval (regulations 15 and 16, and Schedule 1) provide for recognition of national type approvals of small series granted in other EU Member States (regulation 17) provide for applications for individual approvals of vehicles (regulation 18 and Schedule 2) and appeals against decisions made (regulation 19) provide for the form of certificates to be used for national type approval of small series and individual approval (regulation 20) provide that the grant of a first vehicle licence or the registration of motor vehicles cannot happen unless a certificate of conformity or individual approval has been issued in respect of the vehicle (regulation 21) provide for consent to be obtained for the supply of large trailers (regulation 23 and Schedule 3) and for certain records to be kept in relation to large trailers and small trailers (regulations 24 and 25) provide for limits on the number of end-of-series vehicles entering into service (regulation 27) provide for derogations from the requirements of the Type Approval Regulation in respect of components or separate technical units intended for fitment to vehicles which have been exempted from one or more provisions of the Type Approval Regulation, or which are not required to be type-approved by the Type Approval Regulation (regulation 28) provide for breach of these Regulations, the Type Approval Regulation or legislation listed in Schedule 5 to be an offence, and for offences to be punishable either by criminal or civil penalties (regulation 29 and Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 4) make provision for enforcement of these Regulations, including in connection with false statements and obstruction of officers, powers of search, detention of goods by customs officers and recovery of expenses of enforcement (regulation 29 and Part 3 of Schedule 4) make consequential amendments to various enactments, and revoke instruments replaced by the Type Approval Regulation (regulation 30(1) and Schedule 6) provide for the continuation under these Regulations or the Type Approval Regulation of anything done under, or by virtue of, any regulation revoked by these Regulations, if it could have been done under or for the purpose of the corresponding provision of these Regulations or the Type Approval Regulation (regulation 30(2)) make transitional provision in respect of existing national small series type approvals of vehicles over 4m in height (regulation 31) make transitional provision until the end of 2020 in respect of requirements for paper certificates of conformity in connection with national small series type approval (regulation 32) These Regulations also transpose the obligation in Article 113 of, and paragraph 3 of Annex XI to, Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ No. L 321, 17.12.2018, p.36) in relation to interoperability for car radio receivers (regulation 22). The net costs imposed on business, the voluntary sector and the public sector by these Regulations have been assessed as being less than £5m in any year and therefore a full impact assessment has not been prepared, and a review provision not included. This Explanatory Note incorporates the Transposition Note which would otherwise have been provided separately. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside these Regulations on the UK legislation website 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 →

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”
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