UK Offence Report

Nuclear administrator’s duties on vacating office

rule 100(2) of The Relevant Licensee Nuclear Company Administration (England and Wales) Rules 2023

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 It is an offence for the nuclear administrator to fail to comply with paragraph (1).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
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 rule 100(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. On these words it is an offence to fail to comply with paragraph (1).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Relevant Licensee Nuclear Company Administration (England and Wales) Rules 2023, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
22 June 2023
In force from
18 July 2023
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 Rules) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules set out the procedure for the conduct of relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings in England and Wales. Relevant licensee nuclear company administration is a special insolvency regime specifically created for relevant licensee nuclear companies in Great Britain. The framework for the relevant licensee nuclear company administration regime is set out in the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022 (c. 15) (the “2022 Act”). The 2022 Act does so by applying (with modifications) much of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20) (which provides for a special administration regime for certain energy companies). The 2022 Act makes provision for a regulated asset base model for new nuclear power stations in the UK. This will allow an eligible company to receive payments in exchange for the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the plant from electricity suppliers. To support this model, Part 3 of the 2022 Act provides for a special administration regime, about which these Rules make provision. These Rules are applicable only to relevant licensee nuclear company administration. Part 1 contains the construction and interpretation provisions. Part 2 sets out the procedure to be followed to initiate relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings, including the information required for a relevant licensee nuclear company administration order application, to whom notice of such an application needs to be delivered and who may appear at a hearing of the relevant licensee nuclear company administration application. Part 3 details the initial steps to be taken in relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings. These include the notification and advertisement of a nuclear administrator’s appointment and the preparation of a statement of the affairs of the relevant licensee nuclear company. Part 3 also sets out the information that must be given to creditors in the nuclear administrator’s statement of proposals and the contents of the progress reports to be prepared by the nuclear administrator. Part 4 contains provisions relating to creditors’ decisions and company meetings in relevant licensee nuclear company administration. Part 5 contains provisions relating to an application to court for authority to dispose of property of the relevant licensee nuclear company which is subject to a security (other than a floating charge) or goods in the possession of the relevant licensee nuclear company under a hire-purchase agreement. Part 6 contains provisions relating to the expenses of relevant licensee nuclear company administration. Part 7 contains provisions relating to claims by and distributions to creditors of the relevant licensee nuclear company. Part 8 contains details of how the remuneration of a nuclear administrator is to be fixed by the court. Part 9 sets out the arrangements for ending a relevant licensee nuclear company administration. Part 10 sets out the requirements and procedures for replacing a nuclear administrator. Part 11 contains general provisions detailing the court procedure and practice for relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings. In particular this Part sets out the general requirements for court applications made during a relevant licensee nuclear company administration, enforcement procedures, access to the court file, the cost assessment procedure for relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings, provision for persons who lack capacity to manage their affairs, and the appeals process to be used in relevant licensee nuclear company administration proceedings. Part 12 sets out the provision for the examination of persons where an application to court has been made by a nuclear administrator under section 236 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45). Section 236 allows a nuclear administrator to apply to court for an order requiring certain persons to appear before the court to be questioned by the nuclear administrator about the company in relevant licensee nuclear company administration. Part 13 contains provisions of general effect including provisions relating to the delivery of documents, the form and content of documents, service of documents, standard contents of notices and of documents delivered to the registrar of companies, the inspection and right to copies of documents, and the calculation of time periods. Part 14 contains miscellaneous provisions, including the power of the Secretary of State to regulate certain matters relating to the carrying out of the nuclear administrator’s functions, provisions relating to the punishment of offences and the requirement for a review. The Schedule contains further provision about offences. A full impact assessment setting out the impacts resulting from this legislation is available from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero at 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum 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 →

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 0.90.

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