UK Offence Report

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article 47(4) of The Air Navigation (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) Order 2021

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 It is an offence for

a person—

a to fail to comply with

a requirement imposed pursuant to this article; or

b to prevent any other person from—

i appearing before

a Regulator or an authorised person; or

ii answering

a question to which the Regulator or authorised person requires an answer.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 article 47(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. Being served with a notice under the Air Navigation (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) Order 2021 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
28 April 2021
In force from
26 May 2021
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order implements the monitoring, reporting and verification requirements of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Civil Aviation (CORSIA) in Volume IV of Annex 16 to the Convention on Civil Aviation adopted by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation on 27 June 2018. This Order extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. Under CORSIA a baseline level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is established for aeroplane operators undertaking international flights. Aeroplane operators must monitor and report emissions for each year. Part 1 sets out the general provisions for the Order, including the scope of application and flights to which the Order does not apply, and the definitions of various expressions used in the Order, and specifically the definition for the “aeroplane operator”. Part 2, in conjunction with Schedules 1 and 5, sets out the administrative provisions for the Order. Chapter 1 sets out the requirements to notify ICAO of the United Kingdom’s voluntary participation in CORSIA, to establish the attribution of aeroplane operators to the United Kingdom and international flights to those aeroplane operators, defines the regulator and the regulator’s tasks, sets out the record keeping requirements, compliance deadlines, and regulates the use of equivalent procedures, and the role of the Civil Aviation Authority. Chapter 2 makes provision in respect of an aeroplane operator’s change in circumstances. Chapter 3 sets out the requirements for the submission of applications and notices under the Order to a regulator, the determination of applications by a regulator, and the service of notices given by a regulator. Part 3, in conjunction with Schedules 1 to 6, establishes the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) requirements of an aeroplane operator’s annual CO2 emissions from attributable flights. Chapter 1 sets out the applicability of the MRV requirements. Chapter 2 establishes the requirements for the monitoring of aeroplane operator annual CO2 emissions. These provisions include the duty on an aeroplane operator to monitor its CO2 emissions, the monitoring methods available, the requirement for an Emissions Monitoring Plan, the calculation of CO2 emissions from aeroplane fuel use, and the monitoring of CORSIA eligible fuels. Chapter 3 establishes the requirements for the reporting of aeroplane operator annual CO2 emissions. These provisions include the requirements on the aeroplane operator to report CO2 emissions and CORSIA eligible fuel use, and on the Secretary of State to report those emissions for aeroplane operators administered in the United Kingdom to ICAO. Chapter 4, in conjunction with Schedule 6, sets out the standards and requirements for the verification and accreditation bodies and establishes the requirements for the verification of aeroplane operator annual CO2 emissions and CORSIA eligible fuel use. Chapter 5 sets out the requirement for data management and control. These provisions include the requirements for the management of data gaps, corrective actions, improvements to the monitoring methodology, the rounding of data, and the use of an electronic data exchange and automated systems. Part 4 makes provision for a regulator to charge for services undertaken pursuant to the Order, subject to the approval of the charge scheme by the relevant minister, its publication, and any revision of the charges. Part 5 makes provision for compliance monitoring by a regulator or an authorised person. These provisions include the enabling of inspections, the issuing of warrants, and the issuing of information notices by a regulator. Part 6 sets out the enforcement requirements of the Order. The provisions include the requirements and issue of enforcement and penalty notices by a regulator, and establish the civil penalties which are applied to the specified acts or omissions of an aeroplane operator or other person in relation to the requirements of the Order. Those acts or omissions include failing to apply, or make revised application, for an emissions monitoring plan, failing to monitor emissions, failing to report emissions, failing to keep records, failing to comply with enforcement notice given by a regulator, failing to comply with an information notice, providing false or misleading information, etc. and refusing to allow access to premises for an inspection by a regulator or authorised person. Part 7, in conjunction with Schedules 7 and 8, establishes appeals bodies, the right of appeal against certain decisions of a regulator, the effect of an appeal on the matter being appealed, and the appeals procedures. Part 8 gives effect to the Schedules and makes provision for consequential amendments and savings in relation to the retained EU law which introduced the initial monitoring and reporting requirements for CORSIA through the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument, as no significant impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum has been published alongside this Order on the UK legislation website,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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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