UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules

rule 4(a)(ii) of The Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 2) 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

Under section 86A(3)

a person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, that person fails to comply with such

a requirement, whether by providing false or incomplete information or by providing no information.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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

Under section 86A(3) a person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, that person fails to comply with such a requirement, whether by providing false or incomplete information or by providing no information.

What would breach rule 4(a)(ii)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2023.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
11 July 2023
In force from
2 October 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 amend the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, S.I. 2020/759, as follows: Rule Amendment Part 2 Rule 2.12 is added to provide in one place for the principal duties of justices’ legal advisers. Part 3 Rule 3.2 is amended to provide in one place for the (statutory) requirement for a defendant to give name and date of birth and the (common law) requirement to give an address, and to supply the procedure on a failure to give name and date of birth. Rule 3.5 is amended to codify the criteria relevant to the court’s power to adjourn. Part 5 Rules 5.1 and 5.2 are amended to accommodate the provision for forms made by the Criminal Practice Directions 2023 issued by the Lord Chief Justice on 19th April 2023. Rule 5.5 is amended to require the recording of a hearing in the Crown Court on an application under Part 47 for an investigation order or warrant. Rule 5.11 is amended to distinguish between the information about a case published in a court building and online and to accommodate the effect of statutory amendments to the single justice procedure. Rule 5.12 is amended further to clarify the circumstances in which information from court records can be supplied under legislation other than Criminal Procedure Rules. Part 7 New rules 7.5 and 7.6 are added to supply the procedure on a defendant’s attendance at a magistrates’ court in custody after arrest for an offence. Part 14 New rules 14.16 and 14.17 are added to supply the procedure on a defendant’s attendance at court in custody after arrest for breach of bail. Part 18 Rule 18.8 is amended to provide for the setting of a timetable for a pre-trial video recorded cross-examination and re-examination of a witness. Part 24 Rule 24.9 is amended to accommodate amendments to the single justice procedure made by the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 which allow a defendant to enter a guilty plea online and accept conviction and a prescribed penalty. Rule 24.11 is amended to supply the procedure on an application to read a victim personal statement in a youth court. Part 31 Rule 31.3 is amended to accommodate serious disruption prevention orders under the Public Order Act 2023. Rule 31.5 is amended to codify the court’s power in specified circumstances to determine without a hearing an application to vary, etc. a behaviour order. New rules 3.10 and 3.11 are added to codify the procedure on a binding over. Part 37 Rules 37.3 and 37.5 are amended to provide for the online publication by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals of judgments frequently cited in proceedings in the Court of Appeal, criminal division. Part 38 Rules 38.4 and 38.7 are amended for the same reason as are rules 37.3 and 37.5. Part 39 Rules 39.3 and 39.6 are amended for the same reason as are rules 37.3 and 37.5. Part 41 Rules 41.3 and 41.4 are amended for the same reason as are rules 37.3 and 37.5. Part 46 Rule 46.3 is replaced with new rules 46.3, 46.4 and 46.5 to clarify the procedure on an application by a defendant with legal aid to select a different legal representative and on an application by the current representative of such a defendant to withdraw. Part 48 Rules 48.8 and 48.10 are amended to codify the criteria governing the court’s power to punish for contempt of court. Amendments consequent on other amendments. The following other rules are amended or renumbered in consequence of the rule amendments listed above: Part 2 (heading), 3.16, 3.21, 5.8, 9.2, 9.4, 14.3, 14.16, 14.17, 18.9, 24.1 (note), 24.13, 24.14, 24.15, 28.4, 30.2, 31.1, 31.2, 31.9, 31.10, 35.4, 44.1, 44.2, 47.3 and 47.25. The rules and notes to rules listed in the Schedule to these Rules are amended in consequence of the amendments to rules 5.1 and 5.2 of the Criminal Procedure Rules. Correction of error. Rule 31.2(2) is amended to correct the reference to the time limit for which that rule provides. These Rules come into force on 2nd October 2023.

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 0.92.

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