Clause 8 - Offences under regulations under
Waste and Emissions Trading Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mr Jonathan Sayeed (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)
The amendments would strike out the regulations that provide for an offence under the Bill to be punishable by imprisonment. That leaves fining as the only penalty. I examined the fines in the Criminal Justice Act 1991, section 17(2) of which showed that the maximum fine on the standard scale for a level 5 offence is £5,000. My question is slightly different from those in the contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin). If the cost of non-compliance is less than the cost of compliance, will that not encourage authorities not to comply? Should there not be a greater degree of flexibility that both allows for inflation and ensures that the penalty for not complying is greater than the imposition for complying? That would mean that fewer fines would be charged because people would comply.