UK Offence Report

Amendment of the principal Regulations

regulation 4 of Contaminants in Food (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (revoked)

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

4 For paragraph (1) of regulation 3 (offences and penalties) there shall be substituted—

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale if—

a he places on the market any food (other than authorised lettuce or spinach) which is covered by, but fails to meet the requirements of, Article 2.1 as read with Article 2.5;

b he contravenes Article 2.4;

c he knowingly contravenes the requirements of

a notice given under Article 8(3)(a) of the Order as applied with modifications by regulation 6;

d he fails to comply with paragraph (1) of regulation 5A;

e in purported compliance with paragraph (2) of regulation 5A he furnishes any record containing information which he knows to be false or misleading in

a material particular; or

f without reasonable excuse, he fails to comply within

a reasonable time with

a demand made under paragraph (2) of regulation 5A. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 (knowingly).

“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; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

ws to be false or misleading in a material particular; or f without reasonable excuse, he fails to comply within a reasonable time with a demand made under paragraph (2) of regulation 5A. .

What would breach regulation 4?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Contaminants in Food (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
30 June 1999
In force from
16 August 1999
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 Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1525/98 (O.J. No. L201, 17.7.98, p. 43) and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 864/1999 (O.J. No. L108, 27.4.99, p. 16) both of which amend Commission Regulation (EC) No. 194/97 (O.J. No. L31, 1.2.97, p. 48) setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs (together “the Commission Regulation”). They also implement Commission Directive 98/53/EC (O.J. No. L201, 17.7.98, p. 93) laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of the levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs. These Regulations, which amend the Contaminants in Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997— a provide that it is an offence to place on the market food which fails to meet the requirements of Article 2.1 of Commission Regulation 194/97 or to contravene Article 2.4 thereof (regulation 4); b apply Article 8 of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 with modifications so as to require, by service of a notice, that food (other than “authorised lettuce or spinach”) which may contravene the requirements of Article 2.1 of Regulation 194/97 is to be removed for the purposes of inspection to a place having the proper facilities to do so and provide that it is an offence to knowingly contravene such a notice (regulations 4 and 7); c modify the application of Article 29 of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 so as to provide that the taking of any samples of specified food must be in accordance with the methods described in Commission Directive 98/53 and require that samples of specified food are prepared and analysed in accordance with that Directive (regulation 5); d require records containing specified information to be kept and produced upon request (regulation 6); e amend the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 (regulation 8); f revoke the Aflatoxins in Nuts, Nut Products, Dried Figs and Dried Fig Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 and make a consequential revocation of a provision of the Food Labelling Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (regulation 9).

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