UK Offence Report

6 Where a person to whom a stop notice is issued does not comply with it within the time limit specified in…

paragraph 6 of SCHEDULE 3 of The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Civil Sanctions) (Wales) Regulations 2023

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

6 Where a person to whom a stop notice is issued does not comply with it within the time limit specified in the notice, the person is guilty of an offence and liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court, or both, or b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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.

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 paragraph 6 of SCHEDULE 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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Civil Sanctions) (Wales) Regulations 2023.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

'to a fine' with no stated maximum; imprisonment expressed as the general limit in a magistrates' court (Sentencing Act 2020 s.224(1A)); 6 months as at 2023-12-01. Note the limit is keyed to the date of conviction, while the standard scale is keyed to the date of the offence, so a single date is an approximation here; imprisonment expressed as the general limit in a magistrates' court (Sentencing Act 2020 s.224(1A)); 6 months as at 2023-12-01. Note the limit is keyed to the date of conviction, while the standard scale is keyed to the date of the offence, so a single date is an approximation here; imprisonment expressed as the general limit in a magistrates' court (Sentencing Act 2020 s.224(1A)); 6 months as at 2023-12-01. Note the limit is keyed to the date of conviction, while the standard scale is keyed to the date of the offence, so a single date is an approximation here.

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
29 November 2023
In force from
1 December 2023
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 are made under section 17 of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Act 2023. They enable a local authority, as regulator, to impose civil sanctions in relation to the offence under section 5 of that Act. The civil sanctions are fixed monetary penalties, variable monetary penalties, compliance notices, stop notices and enforcement undertakings (regulation 3). The Regulations make provision for the procedure relating to fixed monetary penalties (Schedule 1), variable monetary penalties, compliance notices and third party undertakings (Schedule 2), stop notices (Schedule 3) and enforcement undertakings (Schedule 4). They permit the regulator to serve a non-compliance notice imposing a penalty in the event of non-compliance with a compliance notice or third party undertaking (regulation 7). Under regulation 8 the regulator may serve an enforcement cost recovery notice in relation to investigation and administration costs incurred by the regulator, and the costs of the regulator in obtaining expert advice. Regulation 10 sets out the appeal mechanism. Appeals are to the First-tier Tribunal. Regulations 11 to 13 provide that guidance must be prepared and consulted on relating to the use of civil sanctions, and regulation 14 provides for publication of information on enforcement action taken by the regulator. 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 Environmental Protection Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 is “guilty of 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