UK Offence Report

6 It is an offence to breach a notice served under this regulation or fail to comply with it.

regulation 18(6) of The Private Water Supplies (Wales) Regulations 2010 (revoked)

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

6 It is an offence to breach

a notice served under this regulation or fail to comply with it.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 18(6)?

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 breach a notice served under this regulation or fail to comply with it.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Private Water Supplies (Wales) Regulations 2010, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
13 January 2010
In force from
4 February 2010
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 implement Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ No. 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32) in relation to private water supplies. A “private supply” is defined in section 93(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 as a supply that is provided otherwise than by a water undertaker or a licensed water supplier. Part 1 of the Regulations makes miscellaneous provision in relation to water standards for private supplies. It defines the circumstances in which water is to be regarded as “wholesome” (regulation 4 and Schedule 1). It also sets out the requirements which apply where water is disinfected (regulation 5) and imposes a duty on each local authority to carry out a risk assessment of every private supply in its area (regulation 6). Part 2 of the Regulations places a duty on local authorities to monitor private supplies (regulations 7 to 10 and Schedule 2) and to ensure that each sample taken is analysed in the ways set out in Schedule 3 (regulation 11). It also requires the local authority to make and maintain records for every water supply in its area (regulation 12 and Schedule 4) and to send a copy of the records to the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Welsh Ministers (regulation 13). Part 3 of the Regulations sets out the procedures to be followed if the water is not wholesome. It requires local authorities to provide information to those people likely to consume the water (regulation 14) and to carry out an investigation (regulation 15). If the cause of the unwholesome water is in the pipework within a single dwelling local authorities must offer advice on measures necessary for the protection of human health. Otherwise, if it is not possible to solve the problem informally, local authorities may, in defined circumstances, grant an authorisation of different standards. If such an authorisation is not granted local authorities must (or, in the case of a supply to a single dwelling, may) serve improvement notices requiring the supply to be made wholesome (regulations 16 and 17). Part 4 of the Regulations requires a notice to be served on the “relevant person” (as defined in section 80 of the Water Industry Act 1991) if any supply constitutes a potential danger to human health (regulation 18) and makes provision for appeals and penalties in connection with such notices (regulations 19 and 20). Part 5 of the Regulations makes provision for the payment of fess (regulation 21 and Schedule 5) and revokes the Private Water Supplies Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/2790) in relation to Wales (regulation 22). A full impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Climate Change and Water Division of the Welsh Assembly Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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