UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 18(2) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Functions of Local Authorities etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2020

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 A person who obstructs, without reasonable excuse, any person carrying out

a function under these Regulations commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
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

2 A person who obstructs, without reasonable excuse, any person carrying out a function under these Regulations commits an offence.

What would breach regulation 18(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 an offence is committed where a person obstructs, without reasonable excuse, any person carrying out a function under these Regulations.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Functions of Local Authorities etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2020.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
17 September 2020
In force from
18 September 2020
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.

Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 enables the Welsh Ministers, by regulations, to make provision for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination in Wales. These Regulations are made in response to the serious and imminent threat to public health which is posed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wales. The Regulations have 5 Parts. Part 1 contains interpretation provisions. It also provides that the Regulations expire on 8 January 2021 unless they are revoked before then. Part 2 provides local authorities in Wales with powers to control premises, events and public places in their areas to help control coronavirus within their areas. This includes closing premises and public places and stopping events where necessary. Part 3 continues a duty already imposed on local authorities, National Park authorities, Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust to close public footpaths and land accessible by the public in Wales where congregation of people may lead to a high risk of exposure to coronavirus. Part 4 provides for the enforcement of the restrictions or requirements imposed by the Regulations. Part 5 revokes the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Functions of Local Authorities) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/984 (W. 221)) and makes a consequential amendment to the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/725 (W. 162)). The Regulations replace the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Functions of Local Authorities) (Wales) Regulations 2020 due to a failure to properly record the Welsh Ministers’ declaration that the Regulations were urgent, in accordance with section 45R(2) of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. 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 not been prepared as to the likely cost and benefit of complying with these Regulations.

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 0.92.

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