UK Offence Report

Amendment of Plant Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1967

article 15(2) of The Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984

The instrument creating this offence has not been revoked so far as the data shows.

What the provision says

2 Sections 2(3), 3(2) to (5) and (4)(1)(a)(i) and (b) shall cease to have effect and after section 3A there shall be inserted the following section— Matters which may be included in orders under this Act. 3B

1 Without prejudice to the generality of sections

2 and 3, an order under this Act may—

a direct or authorise the removal, treatment or destruction of any crop, or any seed, plant or part of

a seed or plant or any container, wrapping or other article or any substance which has on it, or is infected with,

a pest or to or by means of which

a pest is in the opinion of the Department likely to spread;

b direct or authorise the entry on any land or elsewhere for the purpose of any removal, treatment or destruction authorised by the order, or any examination or inquiry so authorised, or for any other purpose of the order;

c create offences and in particular may—

i prohibit the selling or exposing or offering for sale or the keeping of living specimens of

a pest or the distribution in any manner of such speciments;

ii make it an offence to contravene

a condition specified in

a licence granted by the Department for the purpose of exempting

a person from any prohibition or restriction imposed by the order;

d provide for offences against the order to be punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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 15(2)?

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. Selling the goods under the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
In force
Made
18 May 1984
In force from
Not determined
Extent
N.I.

How this was established: read from the revised (currently in force) text.

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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