The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) and Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

Insertion of new Schedule A1

12.  Before Schedule 1 insert—

Regulation 5C(7)

“SCHEDULE A1 Enforcement of regulation 5B(3), (5) and (6) in Great Britain, and enforcement of regulation 5B in Northern Ireland, in relation to gas oil and other liquid fuel not intended for use in motor vehicles and related matters

Liability of persons other than principal offender

1.— (1) Where an offence under regulation 5C(3) or (4) which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of—

(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer 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, shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members sub-paragraph (1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with that person’s functions of management as if that person were a director of the body corporate.

(3) Where an offence under regulation 5C(3) is committed in Scotland by a Scottish partnership and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, that partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(4) Where the commission by any person of an offence under regulation 5C(3) or (4) is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person shall be guilty of the offence.

(5) A person may be charged with and convicted of an offence by virtue of regulation 5C(3) or (4) whether or not proceedings for the offence are taken against any other person.

Rights of entry and inspection

2.— (1) Any person authorised in that respect by a local authority in Great Britain, or by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, may at any reasonable time—

(a) enter upon any land or vessel in the authority’s area, or as the case may be in Northern Ireland, for the purpose of—

(i) performing the duty conferred on the authority, the Department or that person by regulation 5C(5),

(ii) determining whether, in so far as they relate to gas oil or other liquid fuel in either case not intended for use in motor vehicles, regulation 5B(3), (5) and (6) in Great Britain, and in Northern Ireland regulation 5B, are being complied with; and

(b) carry out such inspections, measurements and tests on any gas oil or liquid fuel on the land or vessel and take away such samples of gas oil or liquid fuel as the authorised person considers appropriate for such a purpose.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply in relation to a private dwelling.

(3) If it is shown to the satisfaction of a justice of the peace on sworn information in writing that—

(a) in respect of any land or vessel which a person is entitled to enter in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1)—

(i) admission has been refused to that person;

(ii) refusal of admission is anticipated;

(iii) the land or vessel is unoccupied;

(iv) the occupier is temporarily absent; or

(v) an application for admission would defeat the object of the entry; and

(b) there are reasonable grounds for entry upon the land or vessel for the purpose for which entry is required,

then, subject to sub-paragraph (4), the justice may by warrant authorise that person to enter the land or vessel, if need be by force.

(4) A justice of the peace shall not issue a warrant in pursuance of sub-paragraph (3) in respect of any land or vessel unless satisfied—

(a) that admission to the land or vessel in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1) was sought after not less than seven days notice of the intended entry had been served on the occupier;

(b) that the land or vessel is unoccupied; or

(c) that an application for admission to the land or vessel would defeat the object of the entry.

(5) A warrant issued in pursuance of this paragraph shall continue in force until the purpose for which the entry is required has been satisfied.

(6) In the application of this paragraph to Scotland—

(a) any reference to a justice of the peace shall be construed as including a reference to the sheriff; and

(b) in sub-paragraph (3) for “on sworn information in writing” there is substituted “by evidence on oath”.

Provisions supplementary to paragraph 2 (rights of entry and inspection)

3.— (1) A person authorised to enter upon any land or vessel in pursuance of paragraph 2 shall, if so required, produce evidence of such authority before entering upon the land or vessel.

(2) A person so authorised may take on to the land or vessel in question such other persons and such equipment as may be necessary.

(3) Admission with heavy equipment to any land or vessel shall not, except in a case where the land or vessel is unoccupied, be demanded as of right under paragraph 2(1) unless notice of the intended entry has been served on the occupier not less than seven days before the demand.

(4) A person who, in the exercise of powers conferred under paragraph 2 or this paragraph, enters upon any land or vessel which is unoccupied or from which the occupier is temporarily absent shall leave the land or vessel as effectually secured against unauthorised entry as that person found it.

(5) It shall be the duty of a local authority in Great Britain, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, to make full compensation to any person who has sustained damage by reason of—

(a) the exercise by a person authorised by the authority or the Department of any of the powers conferred by virtue of paragraph 2 or this paragraph; or

(b) the failure of a person so authorised to perform the duty imposed by sub-paragraph (4),

except where the damage is attributable to the default of the person who sustained it.

(6) Any dispute as to a person’s entitlement to compensation under sub-paragraph (5) or as to the amount of the compensation shall be determined by arbitration.

(7) A person who wilfully obstructs another person acting in the exercise of any powers conferred on that other person by virtue of paragraph 2 or this paragraph shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

Power of enforcement authorities to obtain information

4.— (1) A local authority in Great Britain, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, may serve on any person a notice requiring that person to provide to the authority or the Department, within a period or at times specified in the notice and in a form so specified, any information which the authority or the Department reasonably considers that it needs for the purposes of any function conferred upon it by regulation 5C and paragraphs 1 to 3 of this Schedule.

(2) Any person who—

(a) fails without reasonable excuse to comply with the requirements of a notice served in pursuance of this paragraph; or

(b) in furnishing any information in compliance with such a notice, makes any statement which the person knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.”