UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 45 of The Spaceflight Activities (Investigation of Spaceflight Accidents) Regulations 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

45 A person who has contravened these Regulations as set out in regulations 37 to 44 is guilty of an offence, and is liable— a on summary conviction in England and Wales, to a fine; b on summary conviction in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; c on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

What would breach regulation 45?

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 has contravened these Regulations as set out in regulations 37 to 44.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Spaceflight Activities (Investigation of Spaceflight Accidents) Regulations 2021, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
11.77 months

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
8 July 2021
In force from
29 July 2021
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 for the investigation of spaceflight accidents. Part 1 contains the interpretation provisions. Part 2 requires the Secretary of State to nominate a body to act as the space accident investigation authority (“SAIA”) for the United Kingdom, and makes provision for the appointment of inspectors for that body. Part 3 sets out what must be done after a spaceflight accident. Part 4 provides for the objective of safety investigations carried out under these Regulations, how the extent of a safety investigation is to be determined, and when a safety investigation may be reopened. It sets out when the Chief Inspector must investigate a spaceflight accident and when the Chief Inspector may do so, when SAIA may seek assistance with a UK safety investigation, what rights accredited representatives, their advisers and state experts have in a UK safety investigation, and how SAIA may participate in another state’s investigation. It provides for the powers of the investigator-in-charge of a safety investigation, and when those powers may be delegated. It also makes provision for the release of evidence to its owner and for the recovery of expenses by SAIA. Part 5 defines sensitive safety information and makes provision for its protection, setting out the circumstances in which information relating to a safety investigation may be disclosed. Part 6 makes provision in relation to the safety investigation report and safety recommendations. Part 7 provides for penalties for breaches of the Regulations. Part 8 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 Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR and is published alongside the Explanatory Memorandum to this instrument on the legislation.gov.uk website.

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.

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