UK Offence Report

Amendment of Part X (Offences)

paragraph 8(b) of SCHEDULE of The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2003

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

b for paragraph (3) substitute—

3 A person who furnishes any information to the appropriate Agency in connection with its functions under these Regulations or furnishes information to which regulation 17A applies to an operator of

a scheme, shall be guilty of an offence if, in furnishing the information; he—

a knows the information to be false or misleading in

a material particular; or

b furnishes such information recklessly and it is false or misleading in

a material particular. 3A A person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed in

a notice under regulation 25(3) shall be guilty of 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (recklessly).

“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: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

misleading in a material particular. 3A A person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed in a notice under regulation 25(3) shall be guilty of an offence. .

What would breach paragraph 8(b) of SCHEDULE?

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 furnishes any information to the appropriate Agency in connection with its functions under these Regulations or furnishes information to which regulation 17A applies to an operator of a scheme.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2003.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. 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
9 December 2003
In force from
1 January 2004
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 Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (the “1997 Regulations”), which impose on producers, and, on their behalf, scheme operators, obligations to recover and recycle specified tonnages of packaging waste, and related obligations, in order to attain the targets in Article 6(1) of Directive 94/62/EC (the “Directive”), which had to be met in 2001. A revision of the Directive, which will set new targets to be met in 2008, is being negotiated at present and is expected to be agreed soon. The targets presently in the 1997 Regulations are not high enough to enable the United Kingdom to increase its rates of recovery and recycling sufficiently to meet the proposed new Directive targets in 2008. These Regulations therefore set interim domestic targets, and recovery and recycling obligations, which reflect the new targets which the United Kingdom is likely to have to meet in 2008. Paragraph 1 of the Schedule makes amendments to regulation 2 of the 1997 Regulations which insert a number of new definitions and amend others. Paragraph 2 introduces a new obligation on scheme operators to take reasonable steps to discharge the recovery and recycling obligations to which scheme members would be subject if they were not members of the scheme. Paragraph 3 makes a number of amendments to Part III of the 1997 Regulations concerning registration, including in particular — a a requirement that application forms for registration must be signed by an approved person; b provision for the appropriate Agency to include additional information requirements within the application form; c requirements for producers (above certain turnover and tonnage thresholds), and for scheme operators, to comply with the operational plans which they are required to have submitted; d alignment of the conditions of registration applying to producers and scheme operators; e a change in the date by which revised operational plans are to be submitted to 31 January in each year; f the introduction of new charges for applications which are submitted late, those which have to be resubmitted, and those which relate to subsidiaries within groups; g a requirement on scheme operators to submit monitoring plans setting out the steps they propose to take to ensure the accuracy of the information received by them from scheme members; h new procedural requirements for obtaining the approval of the National Assembly for Wales to a scheme; i a requirement for annual applications for registration instead of annual renewals; and j requirements relating to the submission of information by scheme members to scheme operators. Paragraph 4 introduces rights of appeal for producers, reprocessors and exporters. Paragraph 5 inserts a new Part IVA into the 1997 Regulations requiring the accreditation of reprocessors and exporters to issue packaging waste recovery notes and packaging waste export recovery notes. Paragraph 6 amends Part V of the 1997 Regulations so as to require additional records and returns to be submitted to the appropriate Agency by producers and scheme operators. Paragraph 7 amends Part VI of the 1997 Regulations so as to ensure that the monitoring obligations which apply to the appropriate Agency include monitoring the new obligations placed on scheme operators, and on accredited reprocessors and exporters; and to increase the scope of the Agency’s power to serve notices requiring the recipients to submit information to the Agency. Paragraph 8 amends Part X of the 1997 Regulations so as to introduce new offences for which scheme operators, scheme members, reprocessors and exporters may be liable. Paragraph 9 makes minor consequential amendments to Schedule 1 to the 1997 Regulations. Paragraph 10 amends Schedule 2 to the 1997 Regulations so as to apply new recovery and recycling targets which reflect the anticipated revisions to the Directive targets. Paragraph 11 inserts a new Schedule 2A into the 1997 Regulations setting out the conditions of accreditation referred to in the new regulation 21C inserted by regulation 8 of these Regulations. Paragraph 12 amends the list of recovery operations set out in Schedule 3 to the 1997 Regulations in order to reflect amendments made by Commission Decision 96/350/EEC. Paragraph 13 amends Schedule 4 to the 1997 Regulations so as to amplify the information required to be contained in the operational plans which producers and scheme operators are required to submit to the appropriate Agency. Paragraph 14 amends Schedule 5 to the 1997 Regulations so as to reduce the period within which appeals may be brought from 6 months to 2 months. Paragraph 15 amends Schedule 6 to the 1997 Regulations so as to amplify the information which must be contained in the certificate of compliance required by regulation 23 of the 1997 Regulations. Paragraph 16 amends Schedule 7 to the 1997 Regulations so as to require information in relation to accredited reprocessors and exporters to be placed on the public register . Paragraph 17 amends Schedule 9 to the 1997 Regulations so as to simplify the arrangements for mid-year changes affecting groups of companies who have obligations under the Regulations. Paragraph 18 removes Schedule 10 which set out the recovery and recycling obligations of the United Kingdom under the Directive. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in connection with these Regulations. Copies may be obtained from the Environment Division, National Assembly for Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

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 0.96.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.96 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