UK Offence Report

Amendment of regulation 19

regulation 8(4) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 9) 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

4 After paragraph (13A) insert— 13B A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes

a requirement in—

a regulation 18A(1) or (2) (requirements on test providers); or

b regulation 18B(1) (requirements on other persons carrying out testing services), 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a person
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 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.

“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 After paragraph (13A) insert— 13B A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes a requirement in— a regulation 18A(1) or (2) (requirements on test providers); or b regulation 18B(1) (requirements on other persons carrying out testing services), commits an offence. .

What would breach regulation 8(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes a requirement in— a regulation 18A(1) or (2) (requirements on test providers); or b regulation 18B(1) (requirements on other persons carrying out testing services).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 9) 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
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
26 August 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.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) Regulations 2021 (“the International Travel Regulations”) and the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 (“the Notification Regulations”). Regulations 3(2), 4, 5(3)(a), 5(4), 13(2), 14 and 18(2) amend the International Travel Regulations to extend the definition of “relevant international event” to include both the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021 (known as “COP26”) and the World Leaders summit organised by the government in connection with the COP26, and to set out how the International Travel Regulations are to apply to those people attending or facilitating the COP26 and the World Leaders summit. The events are being hosted in Glasgow, but attendees and facilitators may travel via England. Regulations 5 and 6 make minor amendments to regulations 5 and 9 of the International Travel Regulations. Regulation 7 imposes direct obligations on those providing testing services to comply with obligations contained in the International Travel Regulations and regulations 8 to 10, 16 and 17 amend that instrument to make provision for enforcement of those obligations. Regulations 11 and 12 update the list of countries and territories listed in Schedules 1 and 3 to the International Travel Regulations and regulations 18(2)(a)(i)(bb) and 19(3) make related amendments. Regulation 13(3) to (5) make amendments to Schedule 4 to the International Travel Regulations to provide for exemptions from some of the obligations in that instrument, including for persons invited to attend London Fashion Week events. Regulation 15 updates the list of sporting events listed in Schedule 5 to the International Travel Regulations. Regulation 18(3) amends Schedule 11 to the International Travel Regulations to enable passengers from category 3 countries and territories to land at Newcastle Airport, and regulation 18(4) and (5) make provision relating to unaccompanied minors arriving in England from category 3 countries and territories. Regulation 19 amends Schedule 13 to the International Travel Regulations to provide that a controller of a flight from a category 3 country or territory landing in England where doing so would otherwise be prohibited by the ban on direct flights from category 3 countries and territories specified in paragraph 4 of Schedule 13 commits no offence where that landing is permitted under regulation 18 of the International Travel Regulations. Regulation 20 makes amendments to Schedule 14 to the International Travel Regulations consequential to other amendments made by these Regulations. Regulation 21 amends the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2021. Regulation 4 of those Regulations is amended to require a diagnostic laboratory which processes a test for the detection of SARS-Cov-2 to provide notification of the results of that test within 48 hours of receiving the sample to be tested. Regulation 4ZA is amended, and new regulation 4ZB is inserted, to clarify the obligations on laboratories which perform genomic sequencing of positive samples. Further amendments correct minor errors in those Regulations. An impact assessment has not been produced for 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 “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