UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 49(1) of The Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013 (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

1 Any person who breaches any provision of these Regulations is guilty of an offence and liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or b on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 49(1)?

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 breaches any provision of these Regulations.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
1 October 2013
In force from
25 October 2013
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 revoke and replace the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2008 which controlled the application of nitrogen fertiliser in nitrate sensitive areas. In relation to Wales, these Regulations continue to implement Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources (OJ No. L375, 31.12.91, p.1). The principal changes are as follows. Regulation 4 makes transitional provision for those holdings newly designated within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone by virtue of these Regulations, with most provisions not applying to them until 1 January 2014. Provisions relating to closed period for spreading nitrogen fertiliser and for storage of organic manure do not apply until 1 August 2015. Regulation 7 designates nitrate vulnerable zones. Regulation 13 introduces an exception to the 250 kg limit on nitrogen which may be spread on a given hectare within nitrate vulnerable zones. Regulation 16 requires that when calculating the total amount of nitrogen applied to land the occupier must include the nitrogen contribution from all organic manure applied to the land in that calculation. Regulation 17 increases the nitrogen value attributed to livestock manure and prescribes how the nitrogen value of other organic manure must be established. Regulation 22 permits the spreading of organic manure within 6 meters of surface water if it is spread by precision spreading equipment. Regulation 26 extends the closed periods for spreading organic manure with high readily available nitrogen for all soils other than sandy or shallow to 31 January with effect from 2014. Regulation 29 reduces the amount of slurry that can be spread following the end of the closed period to 30 cubic metres per hectare. Regulation 43 exempts holdings upon which 80% or more of the agricultural area is sown with grass and which limit their application of nitrogen from certain record keeping requirements. Part 2 of these Regulations designate nitrate vulnerable zones, and establish an appeals procedure against the designation. Part 3 imposes annual limits on the amount of nitrogen from organic manure that may be applied or spread in a holding in a nitrate vulnerable zone. Part 4 establishes requirements relating to the amount of nitrogen to be spread on a crop, and requires an occupier to plan in advance how much nitrogen fertiliser will be spread. Part 5 requires an occupier to provide a risk map of the holding, and imposes conditions on how, where and when to spread nitrogen fertiliser. Part 6 establishes closed periods during which it is prohibited to spread nitrogen fertiliser. Part 7 makes provision for how nitrogen fertiliser must be stored, and requires storage capacity for manure produced on the holding during the period specified in that Part. Part 8 specifies what records must be kept. Part 9 requires the Welsh Ministers to review the Regulations within set time scales. These Regulations are enforced by the Natural Resources Body of Wales. Breach of these Regulations is an offence punishable— a on summary conviction, with a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or b on conviction on indictment, with a fine. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Sustainable Land Management Branch, Welsh Government, Rhodfa Padarn, Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, SY23 3UR.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of 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