UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 12(1) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (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 4, 6, 7, 8(5) or 9(4), or

b contravenes the requirement in regulation 8(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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 4, 6, 7, 8(5) or 9(4), or b contravenes the requirement in regulation 8(1), commits an offence.

What would breach regulation 12(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) (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
26 March 2020
In force from
26 March 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 replace the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Business Closure) (Wales) Regulations 2020 and the Health Protection (Coronavirus: Closure of Leisure Businesses, Footpaths and Access Land) (Wales) Regulations 2020, which are revoked by regulation 2, and make further provision. The Regulations impose restrictions on individuals, businesses and others. In accordance with regulation 3, these restrictions apply for an “emergency period”. This period lasts until a direction is given by the Welsh Ministers specifying that the restrictions, or any one restriction (or part of a restriction), is terminated. The Welsh Ministers are required to keep the need for the restrictions under review every 21 days. Regulation 4 requires the closure of premises, listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations, in which food and drink are sold on the premises. Selling food and drink for consumption off the premises is allowed to continue (but this must be done in accordance with regulation 6(1)). Regulation 4 also prohibits, subject to certain limited exceptions, the carrying on of a business or the provision of a service which is listed in Part 2 or Part 3 of Schedule 1. One exception allows certain business premises to be open, at the request of the Welsh Ministers or a local authority, in order to provide urgent public services. Regulation 5 makes specific provision about holiday accommodation (including hotels and boarding houses). This provides that the requirement (in regulation 4) to close holiday sites (mobile homes sites for holiday use only or which cannot be occupied all year round) and camping sites, includes an obligation on the owners of these sites to use their best endeavours to vacate the premises. Regulation 5 also sets out exceptions to the requirement (in regulation 4) to close hotels and similar forms of accommodation. Regulation 6 applies to certain businesses and services listed in Part 4 of Schedule 1 that are allowed to continue but must do so subject to the conditions specified. Regulation 7 makes specific provision about places of worship, crematoriums and community centres which must close subject to certain exceptions. Exceptions include providing essential voluntary services to homeless or vulnerable people and, upon the request of the Welsh Ministers or a local authority, providing urgent public services. Regulation 8 imposes restrictions on movement and gatherings. This provides that no person may leave the place they live without a reasonable excuse (examples of which are listed). It also provides that no person may participate in a gathering in a public place of more than two people except in certain circumstances. Regulation 9 imposes a requirement on local authorities, National Park authorities, Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust to close certain public paths and land accessible by the public. There is no requirement on the Welsh Ministers to review these provisions but the bodies on whom the duty to close footpaths and land is imposed must keep the need for any closure under consideration. Regulation 10 relates to the enforcement of the restrictions imposed by the Regulations, which include a power of entry provided for in regulation 11. Regulation 12 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 13 allows for offences to be punished by way of a fixed penalty notice and regulation 14 relates to prosecutions of offences under the regulations. Regulation 15 provides that these regulations expire on 26 September 2020, however the expiry of the Regulations does not affect the validity of actions taken under the Regulations before they expire. 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