UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 20(1) of Meat Products (Hygiene) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

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

1 If— a a person (other than a district council acting as an approval authority or enforcement authority) contravenes any provision of these Regulations; or b the occupier of any establishment fails to take all reasonable steps to secure the compliance by any person employed by him or any person admitted to that establishment with any provision of these Regulations, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— i on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the level 5 on the standard scale; or ii on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: fails to take all reasonable steps.

What would breach regulation 20(1)?

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 Meat Products (Hygiene) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
Status not determined
Made
13 November 1997
In force from
8 December 1997
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 implement Council Directive 92/5/EEC (O.J .No. L57, 2.3.92, p. 1) (“the Directive”) amending and updating Directive 77/99/EEC (O.J. No. L.26, 31.1.77, p. 85) on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in meat products and amending Directive 64/433/EEC (OJ No. 121, 29.7.64, (OJ/SE l963-64 p.185)), as amended by Article 14(3) of Council Directive 92/45/EEC (O.J. No. L.268, 14.9.92, p. 35) read with Commission Decision 94/383/EC (O.J. No. L.174, 8.7.94, p. 33). The Regulations relate to States (other than Iceland) in the European Economic Area. This is by reason of the EEA Agreement (at O.J. L.1, 3.1.94) and Decision No. 7/94 of the EEA Joint Committee (see Annex 2 at O.J. L.160/13, 28.6.94). The Regulations do not apply to establishments handling or storing meat products or other products of animal origin exclusively for sale from those establishments to the final consumer, or to the staff of such establishments or to the transporting of meat products to the final consumer (regulation 3). The Regulations— a require premises that handle or store meat products to be approved under and comply with the Regulations. From the date on which the Regulations come into force meat products may only be despatched to a relevant EEA State from approved premises; approvals will be granted on written application to the approval authority, subject to satisfaction of appropriate conditions (regulations 4 and 5); b make provision for the revocation of approvals (regulation 6); c provide a right of appeal (regulation 7); d specify conditions to be complied with in relation to the sale of meat products for human consumption (regulation 8); e specify requirements as to wrapping, packaging and labelling of meat products (regulation 9); f specify requirements as to health marking of meat products and indication of storage temperature and durability (regulations 10 and 11); g specify requirements as to storage and transportation of meat products (regulation 12); h specify duties of the occupier of an establishment (regulation 13); j specify conditions for the sale of any prepared food (other than a meat-based prepared meal) obtained from raw material of animal origin (regulation 14); k prohibit the manufacture of other products of animal origin except in accordance with specified conditions and also specify the conditions for the marketing and transportation of such products (regulations 15 to 17); l make transitional provision for the use of premises, tools and equipment used for the preparation of meat products bearing an EC health mark, for the production of other specified products in pursuance of derogations provided by Directive 91/498/EEC (O.J. No. L268, 24.9.91, p. 105) (regulation 18); m require enforcement authorities to supervise establishments and to enforce and execute the Regulations (regulation 19); n create offences and prescribe penalties (regulation 20); o apply specified provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, including the defence of due diligence (regulation 21); p require food authorities to provide specified information to the Minister (regulation 22); and q make provision for the sale of meat products and other products of animal origin from Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and amend specified Regulations (regulations 23 and 24).

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”
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