UK Offence Report

Transactions in particular goods

article 19(6) of Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

6 The Department may make regulations—

a as to the manner in which any container required by any of the provisions of any of the Schedules mentioned in paragraph (1) or of any order under paragraph (2) to be marked with information (including, in particular, information as to quantity or capacity) is to be so marked;

b as to the manner in which any information required by any of the provisions of any of the Schedules mentioned in paragraph (1) to be displayed on or in

a vending machine is to be so displayed;

c as to the conditions which must be satisfied in marking with information as to the quantity of goods made up in the container in or on which any goods are made up for sale (whether by way of pre-packing or otherwise) where those goods are goods on

a sale of which (whether any sale or

a sale of any particular description) the quantity of the goods sold is required by any of the provisions of any of the Schedules mentioned in paragraph (1) to be made known to the buyer at or before

a particular time;

d as to the units of measurement to be used in marking any container or machine such as is mentioned in sub-paragraphs ( a) to ( c) with any information;

e for securing, in the case of pre-packed goods, that the container is so marked as to enable the packer to be identified;

f as to the method by which and conditions under which quantity is to be determined in connection with any information with respect to such quantity required by or under this Article;

g permitting in the case of such goods and in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations the weight of such articles used in making up the goods for sale as may be so specified to be included in the net weight of the goods for the purposes of this Order; and any person who contravenes any regulation made under this paragraph otherwise than by virtue of sub-paragraph ( f) or ( g) shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 article 19(6)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes any regulation made under this paragraph otherwise than by virtue of sub-paragraph ( f) or ( g).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Weights and Measures (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
Revoked on
26 May 2008
Made
18 February 1981
In force from
Not determined
Extent
N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

Other offences in the same 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