UK Offence Report

8 1 An operator who fails to comply with the requirement in— a regulation 6(1), or b regulation 7(1),…

regulation 8(1) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Pre-Departure Testing and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (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

8 1 An operator who fails to comply with the requirement in— a regulation 6(1), or b regulation 7(1), commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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.

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

The defence, as drafted

y a fine. 3 In relation to the offence in paragraph (1)(a), it is a defence for an operator to show that they recorded a unique passenger reference number for the relevant passenger before that passenger— a presented at immigration control at the Channel Tunnel shuttle terminal area; or b boarded the relevant service, as the case may be. 4 In relation to th

What would breach regulation 8(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 an operator fails to comply with the requirement in— a regulation 6(1), or b regulation 7(1).
  2. Being served with a notice under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Pre-Departure Testing and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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
14 January 2021
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.

Part 1 of these Regulations amends the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/568) to introduce a requirement for persons travelling to England 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)) to possess a notification of a negative coronavirus test upon arrival in England or, if travelling on a shuttle service through the Channel Tunnel, upon presenting at immigration control at the Channel Tunnel shuttle terminal area in France. Part 2 of these Regulations introduces requirements for persons operating commercial transport services (“operators”) for passengers travelling to England from outside the common travel area to ensure that passengers who arrive in England on such services have completed a Passenger Locator Form (regulation 6(1)) and possess notification of a negative test result (regulation 7(1)). Operators operating shuttle services through the Channel Tunnel are required to ensure that passengers have these documents by the time they present at immigration control at the Channel Tunnel shuttle terminal area in France. Breach of the requirements is an offence (regulation 8(1)). Upon completion of the Passenger Locator Form, passengers receive a unique passenger reference number from the Home Office. An operator who has recorded a unique passenger reference number in the format used by the Home Office will have a defence to the offence in regulation 8(1)(a) (regulation 8(3)). Regulation 9 allows an authorised person to deal with an offence under regulation 8(1) by way of fixed penalty notice. A fixed penalty notice must give details of the particulars of the offence, including the name of the passenger without a completed Passenger Locator Form or notification of a negative test result. As the provisions made by these Regulations will have effect for a period of less than 12 months, a full Impact Assessment has not been prepared. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside this instrument on 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 →

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