UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 46(3) of The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021

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

3 Subject to paragraph (4) where

a body corporate is guilty of an offence under these Regulations, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of—

a any director, manager, secretary or other similar person of the body corporate, or

b any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 body corporate
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 body corporate 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 46(3)?

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 body corporate was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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 January 2021
In force from
1 April 2021
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— a the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2506 (W. 245)) which control the application of nitrogen fertiliser in nitrate sensitive areas, and b the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage and Slurry) (Wales) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1493 (W. 136)) which regulate the custody and control of silage and slurry and provided the design and construction standards applicable for its storage. These Regulations make provision concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources. Whereas the requirements under the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013 applied only to holdings situated in designated Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, these requirements will now apply to all holdings in Wales. The majority of the measures in the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage and Slurry) (Wales) Regulations 2010 will continue to apply under these Regulations but the capacity requirements for the storage of organic manure and silage in those Regulations are superseded and mirror those in the Nitrate Pollution Prevention (Wales) Regulations 2013. Furthermore, persons proposing to build or improve their storage facility for slurry or silage will be required to notify the Natural Resources Body for Wales (“NRBW”) 14 days before construction work is begun, replacing the previous requirement for notification prior to the storage facility’s actual use. Occupiers of organic holdings wishing to benefit from the exemption to the closed periods for spreading organic manure with high readily available nitrogen (regulation 20) must now submit an undertaking to the control system referred to in Article 27 of Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 rather than register with the Advisory Committee on Organic Standards which has now been dissolved. Part 1 of these Regulations contains introductory provisions including transitional provision for all holdings not previously within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone which are now required to comply with the relevant provisions and requirements under these Regulations. Part 2 of these Regulations imposes annual limits on the amount of nitrogen from organic manure that may be applied or spread. Part 3 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 fertilizer will be spread. Part 4 requires an occupier to provide a risk map of the holding, and imposes conditions on how, where and when to spread nitrogen fertilizer. Part 5 establishes closed periods during which it is prohibited to spread nitrogen fertilizer. Part 6 makes provision for the storage of organic manure and prescribes the capacity and construction requirements for such storage systems. It provides for exemptions from the requirements for certain storage systems; for NRBW to serve notices requiring the carrying out of works or precautions for reducing the risk of pollution to controlled waters and provides an appeal process against such notices. It also requires NRBW to be notified of certain works to be carried out to such storage systems. Part 7 specifies what records must be kept. Part 8 requires the Welsh Ministers to review these Regulations within set time scales, including a review after two years to consider any submissions on an alternative suite of measures to those in these Regulations for preventing or reducing pollution caused by agriculture. Part 9 of these Regulations provides for enforcement and for contravention of certain regulations to be a criminal offence. These Regulations are enforced by NRBW. Part 10 contains miscellaneous provisions including revocations. These Regulations repeal and re-enact (without modification) technical regulations in the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage and Slurry) (Wales) Regulations 2010. British Standard publications referred to in these Regulations can be obtained from the British Standard Institute either online at https://shop.bsigroup.com/Contact-Us/ or by writing to BSI Customer Services, 389 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4AL, UK. 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 Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

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 0.64.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.64 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