UK Offence Report

18 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with regulation 7; b…

regulation 18 of Slaughter Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

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

18 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with regulation 7; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 14 or 15; c without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a requirement made under regulation 15 or a request made under regulation 16; or d knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is made or the information is furnished for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person the grant of a slaughter premium.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (for the purpose of obtaining, 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, for the purpose of obtaining, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

18 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with regulation 7; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 14 or 15; c without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a requirement made under regulation 15 or a request made und

What would breach regulation 18?

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 Slaughter Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001.
  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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
9 May 2001
In force from
6 June 2001
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, which come into operation on 6th June 2001, lay down implementing measures for the slaughter premium scheme for bovine animals introduced by Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal (O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 21). The Regulations provide for the administration of the scheme in relation to holdings in Northern Ireland and also holdings situated partly in Northern Ireland and partly elsewhere in the United Kingdom, where the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for processing the farmer’s claim for slaughter premium (regulations 3 to 11). They also lay down enforcement provisions in relation to holdings or parts of holdings in Northern Ireland (regulations 13 to 20). The provisions relating to administration establish the procedure for submitting claims for premium (regulations 4 and 5), impose sanctions for overgrazing and the use of unsuitable supplementary feeding methods (which are included as a condition of the scheme by virtue of Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1259/1999 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy (O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 113)) (regulations 8 and 9), and provide for withholding or recovery of slaughter premium where there is a breach of the rules of the scheme (regulations 10 and 11). Regulation 6 requires that for animals exported to Great Britain to be eligible for slaughter premium, animals must be slaughtered in registered slaughterhouses. Regulation 7 requires claimants to retain certain records. The provisions relating to enforcement confer powers of entry, inspection and collection of evidence on authorised persons (regulations 14 and 15). These include the powers required under Article 6 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (O.J. No. L391, 31.12.92 p. 36). Regulations 18 to 20 deal with offences and penalties.

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