UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 29(1) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 3) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (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 A person who—

a without reasonable excuse, contravenes

a requirement in regulation 9(1), 11(1), 12(1), 13(1), 14(1) or 15(3), or

b contravenes

a requirement in regulation 3(1), 4(1), 5(1), 18(1) or 19(1) 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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

1 A person who— a without reasonable excuse, contravenes a requirement in regulation 9(1), 11(1), 12(1), 13(1), 14(1) or 15(3), or b contravenes a requirement in regulation 3(1), 4(1), 5(1), 18(1) or 19(1) commits an offence.

What would breach regulation 29(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 3) (Wales) Regulations 2020, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
21 October 2020
In force from
23 October 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 impose requirements and restrictions on individuals, businesses and others. There are 7 Parts to the Regulations. Part 1 provides that these Regulations come into force at 6 p.m. on 23 October 2020 and expire at the end of the day on 8 November 2020. Part 2 imposes limits on movement and travel. Regulation 3 requires people living in Wales to stay at home, unless they have a reasonable excuse not to. In addition, in the limited circumstances where people can leave home, there is a restriction in regulation 4 on people gathering with anyone who is not part of their household. The overall effect of these provisions is to restrict movement of people within Wales. Consistent with that, regulation 5 provides that people who live outside Wales need a reasonable excuse to travel into Wales. Regulations 6 and 7 limit the circumstances in which a pupil or student has a reasonable excuse to attend the premises of a school or further education institution. Regulation 9 makes further provision making it an offence (punished by a higher penalty) for organising large scale music events that encourage people to gather illegally. Part 3 relates to business and services whose premises are ordinarily open to the public, requiring many to close. Part 1 of Schedule 1 lists those businesses and services whose premises must be closed to the public (though regulation 11 makes clear that this does not prevent certain activities from taking place on the premises). Part 2 of Schedule 1 lists businesses and premises whose premises must be closed but to which access may be allowed on a limited basis. These are categorised as premises selling food and drink (which are listed in Chapter 1 and to which limited access is allowed in accordance with regulation 12); premises offering hotel or holiday accommodation (which are listed in Chapter 2 and to which limited access is allowed in accordance with regulation 13); and others (which are listed in Chapter 3 and to which limited access is allowed in accordance with regulation 14). Regulation 15 provides for an exception to the requirement to close which applies to the premises of businesses or services listed in Part 3 of Schedule 1. Regulation 16 makes clear that where more than one type of business or service is provided at the same premises, those prohibited by regulation 11 (and listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1) may not continue. Part 4 makes provisions for the purpose of minimising risk of exposure to coronavirus. Regulation 17 applies to “regulated premises” (any place which is open to the public or where work is carried out) and requires: (1) all reasonable measures to be taken to ensure that a distance of 2 metres is maintained between persons on the premises; (2) any other reasonable measures to be taken, for example to limit close face to face interaction and maintain hygiene; and (3) information to be provided to those entering or working at premises about how to minimise risk of exposure to coronavirus. It also specifies that not carrying out an activity, closing part of a premises, allowing staff to isolate and collecting contact information from those on the premises may be reasonable measures. Regulations 18 and 19 provide that face coverings must be worn on public transport, including taxis, and in certain indoor places, subject to listed exemptions and exceptions. Regulation 20 provides for guidance to be issued about the practical application of the requirements imposed by this Part, and those to whom the requirements apply must have regard to that guidance. Part 5 relates to the enforcement of the restrictions and requirements. Regulation 21 makes provision about those who can take enforcement action, regulation 22 makes further provision (in Schedules 2 and 3) about enforcing the need to take preventative measures under regulation 17, regulation 23 relates to compliance notices, and regulation 24 to powers of removal and dispersal. Regulation 25 relates specifically to enforcing the requirement to wear a face covering and regulation 26 to children. Regulation 27 contains a power to enter premises and regulation 28 allows reasonable force to be used in certain circumstances. Part 6 makes provision about offences and penalties. Regulation 29 provides that a person who, without a reasonable excuse, contravenes (listed) requirements in these Regulations commits an offence. That offence is punishable by an unlimited fine. Regulation 30 relates to offences by bodies corporate. Regulation 31 allows for offences to be punished by way of fixed penalty notices and regulation 32 relates to prosecutions of offences under the regulations. Part 7 contains defined terms (regulation 33) and revokes the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) (No.2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/725 (W. 162)) as they were amended (regulation 34). Regulation 33 also makes provision which modifies the numerous restrictions on individuals in the Regulations which limit interaction with anyone who is not a member of their household. This allows a person who lives alone or only with children to agree to form an extended household with another household, which means that members of both households can interact with each other as if they were members of one household. 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