UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 10(1) of Bovine Hides Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

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 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with the provisions of regulations 4 to 7; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person, or a person acting under his instructions, in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 9; c without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with the request made under regulation 9(3)(a); or d knowingly or recklessly to furnish any information that he is required to provide to the Department under these Regulations which is false or misleading in a material particular.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with the provisions of regulations 4 to 7; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person, or a person acting under his instructions, in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 9; c without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with

What would breach regulation 10(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Bovine Hides Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

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
23 April 1998
In force from
1 June 1998
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 further provision for the enforcement of the requirements of Article 1(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 716/96, adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market in the United Kingdom, in so far as those requirements relate to the hides of bovine animals aged more than 30 months which do not show any clinical signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The Regulations also apply to the hides of bovine animals slaughtered under the selective cull as defined in the Selective Cull (Enforcement of Community Compensation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 595). The Regulations provide for the registration of hide dealers and tannery controllers and for the approval of rendering plants (regulation 3). General requirements are specified in relation to the purchase or sale of, and other dealings in, hides (regulation 4). The Regulations ensure that, when a hide is processed, any part of it not processed is treated as controlled waste and consigned to an approved incinerator or rendering plant (regulations 5 and 6). Registered hide dealers and tannery controllers are required to submit weekly returns to the Department of Agriculture (regulation 7). The Regulations provide for the appointment of authorised officers and make provisions in relation to enforcement and penalties (regulations 8 to 11).

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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