UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Scotland Act 1998

regulation 8(2) of The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 33) and Sentencing Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2022

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

2 In section 113 (subordinate legislation: scope of powers) after subsection (10A) there is inserted— 10AA If a power— a is exercised so as to make provision for a summary offence under the law of England and Wales to be punishable with imprisonment for more than 6 months (“the relevant provision”) and b is so exercised— i on or after 2 May 2022, but ii before the day on which section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 comes into force, the power must also be exercised so as to provide that, in relation to an offence committed before the day referred to in paragraph (b)(ii), any reference in the relevant provision to a term of imprisonment of more than 6 months is to be read as a reference to a term of imprisonment of 6 months. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 regulation 8(2)?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 33) and Sentencing Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2022.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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 2022
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W

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 bring into force on 2nd May 2022 provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) (“the 2003 Act”) and the Sentencing Act 2020 (c. 17) (“the 2020 Act”). Regulation 3(a) brings into force section 282 of the 2003 Act (increase in maximum term that may be imposed on summary conviction of offence triable either way). Section 282(1) amends section 32 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (c. 43) (“the 1980 Act”) (penalties on summary conviction for offences triable either way) to increase the maximum penalty that a magistrates’ court can impose on summary conviction of an offence listed in Schedule 1 to the 1980 Act, from 6 months’ imprisonment to 12 months’. Section 282(2) and (3) together increase the maximum term of imprisonment to which a person is liable on summary conviction of an offence that is triable either way in the following circumstances: the offence is set out in legislation made before or during the same session as the 2003 Act, is punishable with imprisonment on summary conviction, and is not listed in Schedule 1 to the 1980 Act. Section 282(4) provides that only offences committed after the provision is commenced are affected. The maximum penalty is increased from 6 months’ imprisonment to 12 months’. Regulation 3(b)(i) brings into force section 283(1)(b) and (3) of the 2003 Act (enabling powers: power to alter maximum penalties). Section 283(1)(b) confers a power on the Secretary of State to amend any enactment made before or in the same session as the 2003 Act, so as to make a person liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment as regards an offence triable either way. Section 283(3) provides that an order made under section 283(1)(b) may amend the enactment in question to increase the maximum penalty on summary conviction of an offence created under the power, to 12 months’ imprisonment. Regulation 3(b)(ii) brings into force sections 283(4) and (7) insofar as they relate to paragraphs 6 and 7 of Schedule 27 to the 2003 Act (enabling powers: alteration of maximum penalties etc.). These provisions amend powers in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (c. 43) and the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) to create offences to ensure they may provide for a maximum sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment on summary conviction of a triable either way offence. Regulation 4 brings into force paragraph 24 of Schedule 22 to the 2020 Act (amendments of the Sentencing Code and related amendments of other legislation) for offences triable either way only. Paragraph 24 amends section 224 of the 2020 Act to increase the maximum penalty that a magistrates’ court can give on summary conviction of an offence triable either way from 6 months’ imprisonment to 12 months’. Regulation 5 and the Schedule replace existing legislative references to the commencement of paragraph 24 of Schedule 22 to the 2020 Act and sections 154 and 282 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 with the actual date of commencement (2nd May 2022). These replacements are made using the power in section 104(1)(a) of the Deregulation Act 2015 and spell out one of the effects of the amendments brought into force by regulations 3 and 4. Regulation 6 amends section 224 of the 2020 Act to make clear on the face of that provision the effect of the amendment brought into force by regulation 4, namely the partial commencement of paragraph 24 of Schedule 22 to the 2020 Act. The amendments are made using the powers at section 419(1) and (2) of the 2020 Act. Regulation 6 comes into force one minute after the provisions commenced by regulation 4. Regulation 7 inserts a new subsection into section 141 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to make transitional provision to ensure that where Regulations under the power conferred by that section make provision for a summary offence to be punishable with imprisonment for more than 6 months, those Regulations must also provide in relation to any offence committed before the day on which section 281(5) of the 2003 Act comes into force, any reference to a sentence of imprisonment of more than six months is to be read as six months. Regulation 8 makes a comparable amendment to section 113 of the Scotland Act 1998. 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 Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ and is published alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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