UK Offence Report

2 Any person who— a intentionally obstructs any person acting in the execution of these Regulations, or b…

regulation 10(2) of Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food 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

2 Any person who—

a intentionally obstructs any person acting in the execution of these Regulations, or

b without reasonable cause, fails to give to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require of him for the performance of his functions under these Regulations, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

The defence, as drafted

to meet the requisite standards was used, sold or imported, it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that the plastic material or article in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export to a country, other than an EEA State, which has legislation analogous to these Regulations and that the plastic material or article

What would breach regulation 10(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
27 July 1998
In force from
14 September 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 come into operation on 14th September 1998. These Regulations implement— a Council Directive (EEC) 82/711 (O.J. No. L297, 23.10.82, p. 26), as amended by Commission Directives 93/8/EEC (O.J. No. L90, 14.4.93, p. 22) and 97/48/EC (O.J. No. L222, 12.8.97, p. 10), laying down the basic rules necessary for testing migration of the constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs; b Council Directive (EEC) 85/572 (O.J. No. L372, 30.12.85, p. 14) laying down the list of simulants to be used for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs; and c Commission Directive (EEC) 90/128 (O.J. No. L75, 21.3.90, p. 19, to be read with the corrigendum in O.J. No. L349, 13.12.90, p. 26), as amended by Commission Directives (EEC) 92/39 (O.J. No. L168, 23.6.92, p. 21), 93/9 (O.J. No. L90, 14.4.93, p. 26), 95/3/EEC (O.J. No. L41, 23.2.95, p. 44) and 96/11/EC (O.J. No. L61, 12.3.96, p. 26), relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. These Regulations— a prohibit the use, sale or importation of plastic materials and articles which do not meet specified standards and provide a defence in relation to plastic materials and articles intended for export (regulation 3(1), (2) and (4)); b prohibit the manufacture of plastic materials and articles with any monomer other than one which meets specified requirements and provide a defence in relation to plastic materials and articles manufactured before 14th September 1998 and in accordance with regulation 4 of the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 (regulations 3(3) and 4); c prohibit the use in the manufacture of plastic materials or articles of any specified additive which is not of good technical quality (regulation 5); d provide the methods for testing the capability of plastic materials or articles of transferring constituents to food (regulation 6); e stipulate the overall migration limit for plastic materials and articles (regulation 7); f require, at marketing stages other than retail, persons in possession of any plastic material or article intended to come into contact with food to ensure such material or article is accompanied by a specified declaration (regulation 8); g specify the enforcement authority (regulation 9); h provide offences and defences and specify penalties (regulation 10); i provide that specified presumptions shall arise from particulars shown in relation to a plastic material or article in accordance with the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (“the 1987 Regulations”) (regulation 11); j apply provisions of the 1987 Regulations and of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (regulation 12); and k amend and revoke other legislation (regulations 13 and 14). The materials and articles to which these Regulations relate are also subject to the 1987 Regulations. These Regulations are made under specified provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 and, in so far as they cannot be made under those provisions, section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. The provisions included under the 1972 Act are those which key into provisions of the 1987 Regulations (save where covered by Article 47(2)(a) of the 1991 Order) and revocations of Regulations made under section 2(2) of the 1972 Act.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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