Commentary on Sections Part 3: Nuclear Regulation Functions of ONR: general Section 79: Codes of practice
394.This section enables the ONR to issue, revise or withdraw codes of practice, which give practical guidance about the requirements of the relevant statutory provisions (defined in section 82(2)).
395.Failure to follow a code of practice will not be a criminal offence nor make a person liable to civil proceedings, but a relevant provision of the code will be admissible in evidence in criminal proceedings where a relevant statutory provision has allegedly been contravened and the code of practice was in place at the time of the alleged contravention (see subsections (4) to (6)).
396.Where an approved code of practice is used in court and the prosecution proves that the code was not followed, the defendant is taken to have failed to meet the requirement of the relevant statutory provision in question unless they can prove that they have complied in some other way (see subsection (7)).