UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 20(2) of The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 20(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) (No. 2) (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
10 July 2020
In force from
Not determined
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. The Regulations replace the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/353 (W. 80)) as they were amended by S.I. 2020/399 (W. 88), S.I. 2020/452 (W. 102), S.I. 2020/497 (W. 118), S.I. 2020/529 (W. 124), S.I. 2020/557 (W. 129), S.I. 2020/619 (W. 141) and S.I. 2020/686 (W. 153). There are 5 Parts to the Regulations. Part 1 contains defined terms (regulation 2); requires the Welsh Ministers to review the proportionality of, and the need for, the restrictions and requirements at least once every 21 days (regulation 4); and provides that these Regulations expire on 8 January 2021 (regulation 5). This Part 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 members of two households to agree to form a single (extended) household, which means that members of those households can interact with each other as if they were members of one household. Part 2 requires certain business and premises to close. These are listed in Schedule 1 (premises selling food and drink), Schedule 2 (generally indoor leisure or cultural facilities and beauty services) and Schedule 3 (holiday accommodation). The requirements to close are, however, subject to numerous exceptions. These include providing food and drink to take away and consuming food and drink on premises that are outdoors (regulation 6); allowing premises to be used for certain listed purposes (regulation 7); allowing self-contained accommodation at hotels and holiday sites to be open, and allowing other forms of such accommodation to open at the request of the Welsh Ministers or a local authority (regulation 8). Regulation 10 makes specific provision about crematoriums and community centres which must close subject to certain exceptions, and regulation 11 requires local authorities, National Park authorities, Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust to close certain public paths and land accessible by the public. Part 3 imposes obligations on persons responsible for premises open to the public, or for work being carried out at any premises, for the purpose of minimising risk of exposure to coronavirus at the premises. Regulation 12 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. Regulation 13 provides for guidance to be issued about the practical application of the requirements imposed by regulation 12, and those subject to the requirements must have regard to that guidance. For these purposes premises includes vehicles used as taxis and for public transport. Part 4 imposes limits on gathering with other people. These provide (at regulation 14) that a person may only gather indoors with someone other than a member of their household or their carer, or the person they care for, if they have a reasonable excuse for doing so (examples of which are listed). The same rule applies to gathering outdoors except that gathering with members of one other household is also allowed. Regulation 15 provides an exception to the rule in regulation 14 for organised outdoor activities involving no more than 30 people. Regulation 16 provides that a person who is working or providing voluntary or charitable services must do so from their home, if it is reasonably practicable for them to do so. Part 5 relates to the enforcement of the restrictions and requirements. Regulation 17 makes provision about those who can take enforcement action, while regulation 18 relates to the actions themselves. Regulation 19 contains a power to enter premises. Regulation 20 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 21 allows for offences to be punished by way of a fixed penalty notice (the amount of which doubles on each of a person’s second and subsequent penalty notices, up to a maximum of £1920) and regulation 22 relates to prosecutions of offences under the regulations. 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