The Act Commentary on Sections Offence of dropping litter Section 19 Litter offence: fixed penalty notices
73.Section 19 amends section 88 of the 1990 Act, under which an authorised officer of a litter authority may give a person who he has reason to believe has committed an offence under section 87 a notice offering that person the opportunity to discharge any liability to conviction for that offence by payment of a fixed penalty.
74.Subsection (2) amends section 88 to enable a principal litter authority to specify the amount of fixed penalty to be applied in its area; where the authority sets no such amount the fixed penalty shall be £75. Powers set out in section 97A (introduced by section 24) of the 1990 Act enable regulations to be made by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to set a minimum and maximum range within which the fixed penalty amount can be set. The litter authority to which a fixed penalty is payable may provide for treating it as having been paid if a lesser amount is paid before the end of such (shorter) period as it may specify.
75.Subsection (3) inserts new section 88 (8A)-(8C) that provides that where an authorised officer of a litter authority proposes to give a person a fixed penalty notice, he may require that person to give him his name and address, and it is an offence for that person to fail to do so or to give false or inaccurate information.
76.Subsection (4) classifies all parish and community councils as litter authorities. This has the effect of enabling parish and community councils to authorise officers to serve fixed penalty notices for the litter offence under section 88 of the 1990 Act. Under subsection (6) the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales may make regulations prescribing conditions that must be met by an individual before he can be authorised by a parish and community council to issue fixed penalty notices. This could, for example, relate to certain training standards or competencies.
77.In subsection (5) the description of an “authorised officer” is extended under a revised section 88(10) to allow litter authorities to authorise individuals other than their own employees to issue fixed penalty notices on their behalf.