UK Offence Report

Maintenance of records by registered fish buyer

regulation 9(7) of The Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

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

7 A registered fish buyer who fails to keep, or to produce on the request by the relevant authority, the records required by this Regulation is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an authority
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that an authority meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 9(7)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where an authority fails to keep, or to produce on the request by the relevant authority, the records required by this Regulation.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
6 September 2005
In force from
30 September 2005
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 administration and enforcement of Article 22 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2371/2002, “the CFP Regulation”, (O.J. No. L358, 31.12.02, p. 59) and Article 9 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93 (O.J. No. L261, 20.10.93, p. 1.) which impose requirements relating to the first marketing and purchasing of fish (first sale fish). The Regulations come into force on 30th September 2005. The Regulations do not form part of the law of Scotland, Wales or England, for which separate administration and enforcement provisions are respectively being made. The Regulations make provision for the registration by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of sellers of first sale fish (regulation 3), designation of fish auction sites (regulation 6) and registration of buyers of first sale fish (regulation 7). Regulation 5 requires registered fish sellers to maintain records of their sales of first sale fish and regulation 9 requires buyers of first sale fish to maintain records of their purchases of first sale fish. And the Regulations provide offences for the purposes of the enforcement of these registrations and designations (regulations 3(9), 3(10), 5(7), 6(8), 6(9), 7(8), 7(9) and 9(6). The Regulations provide offences in relation to the sale and purchase of first sale fish. Regulation 4 provides an offence to sell first sale fish at a designated auction site unless registered as a fish seller. By regulation 8 it is an offence to buy first sale fish contrary to Article 22(2)(b) of the CFP Regulation (requirement that buyers of first sale fish are registered) as read with the final sub-paragraph of that Article 22(2), which provides an exception for fish bought for private consumption. By regulation 10 it is an offence to sell first sale fish landed otherwise than by a licensed fishing vessel. And by regulation 11 it is an offence to buy first sale fish unless the fish has been landed by a licensed fishing vessel. Penalties for these offences are provided by regulation 12: on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment a fine. Where a person is convicted of an offence under regulations 3(9), 3(10), 5(7), 6(8), 6(9), 7(8), 7(9) or 9(6) a court may also revoke the registration or designation concerned and may order that the person convicted is disqualified from applying for registration or designation for a specified period. The Regulations confer powers of enforcement on British sea fishery officers for the purposes of enforcing these Regulations. These powers may be exercised in relation to premises in Northern Ireland, to any fishing boat within the Northern Ireland zone and in relation to a Northern Ireland fishing boat wherever it may be (regulations 13 to 15). Regulation 16 makes provision for protection of British sea fishery officers and regulation 17 provides offences and penalties for their obstruction. Regulation 18 makes provision in respect of offences by bodies corporate.

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