UK Offence Report

Offences and penalty

regulation 6 of Spreadable Fats (Marketing Standards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

6 If any person contravenes—

a regulation 4, or

b any Community provision, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Spreadable Fats (Marketing Standards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
Status not determined
Made
28 February 1996
In force from
22 April 1996
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision for the enforcement and execution of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2991/94 (O.J. No. L316, 9.12.94, p. 2) laying down standards for spreadable fats. In pursuance of Article 6 of that Regulation, the Regulations also re-enact requirements as to the vitamin content of margarine which were previously contained in the Margarine Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1968 (S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1968 No. 3), as amended (regulation 4), subject to an exemption (regulation 3(2)). These Regulations— a specify that district councils are to enforce and execute these Regulations and the provisions of the Council Regulation referred to in column 1 (and briefly described in column 2) of Schedule 1 (regulation 5); b create offences and prescribe a penalty (regulation 6) and contain a limited exemption in respect of any spreadable fat to which the EEA Agreement applies and which is brought into Northern Ireland from an EEA State other than a member State (regulation 3(1)); c provide a defence in relation to exports, in implementation of Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397 EEC (O.J. No. L186, 30.6.89, p. 23) on the official control of foodstuffs, as read with the ninth recital to that Directive (regulation 7); d incorporate specified provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (regulation 8); e revoke the Regulations and order specified in Schedule 2 to the extent specified in that Schedule (regulation 9). Article 11(2) of the Council Regulation provides that, notwithstanding Article 2(1), products on the market of a member State on 31st December 1995 which do not meet the requirements specified may be supplied or transferred until 31st December 1997.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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