UK Offence Report

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie with him— a…

article 44(1) of The Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 (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

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie with him— a subject to paragraph (2), he contravenes or fails to comply with— i Article 6(1); ii Article 9; iii Article 10(1) or (4); iv Article 16(2) or (3); v Article 18; vi Article 20(1); vii Article 21 viii Article 24(3) or (4); ix Article 26(1); x Article 27(2) or (3); xi Article 28(1); xii Article 36; xiii Article 38(1),(2) and (3); xiv Article 40(4); xv Article 41(1); and xvi Article 42(1); b he contravenes or fails to comply with a provision or condition of a notice served, or deemed to be served, on him or of a licence granted or of any direction given, under this Order; or c he intentionally obstructs an inspector or any person authorised by an inspector in exercise of his powers given by or under this Order.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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).

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

The defence, as drafted

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie with him— a subject to paragraph (2), he contravenes or fails to comply with— i Article 6(1); ii Article 9; iii Article 10(1) or (4); iv Article 16(2) or (3); v Article 18; vi Article 20(1); vii Article 21 viii Article 24(3) or (4);

What would breach article 44(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 Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006.
  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
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
6 March 2006
In force from
31 March 2006
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

The Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 (“this Order”), which applies to Northern Ireland, revokes and consolidates with amendments the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 1993 (SR 1993 No. 256). This Order also implements— a Council Directive 2002/89/EC (OJ No. L355, 30.12.2002, p.45) amending Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community; b Commission Directive 2004/103/EC (OJ No. L313, 12.10.2004, p.16) on identity and plant health checks of plants, plant products or other objects, listed in Part B of Annex V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC which may be carried out at a place other than the point of entry into the Community or at a place close by and specifying the conditions related to these checks; c Commission Directive 2004/105/EC (OJ No. L319, 20.10.2004, p.9) determining the models of phytosanitary certificates or phytosanitary certificates for re-export accompanying plants, plant products or other objects from third countries and listed in Council Directive 2000/29/EC; d Commission Directive 2005/16/EC (OJ No. L57, 3.3.2005, p.19) amending Annexes I to V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community; e Commission Directive 2005/17/EC (OJ No. L57, 3.3.2005, p.23) amending certain provisions of Directive 92/105/EEC concerning plant passports; f Commission Decision 2005/260/EC (OJ No. L78, 24.3.2005, p.50) which comprises Decision No 2/2005 of the Joint Committee on Agriculture set up by the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on trade in agricultural products concerning the amendments to the Appendices to Annex 4; and g Commission Decision 2005/870/EC (OJ No. L.319, 7.12.2005, p.9) recognising Bulgaria as being free from Clavibacter michiganensis (Smith) Davis et al. spp. sepedonicus (Spieckerman and Kotthoff) Davis et al. This Order comes into operation on 31st March 2006. Part 2 of this Order imposes restrictions and requirements on relevant material imported into Northern Ireland from third countries, including material coming via another country in the European Community where the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (“the Department”) has agreed to inspect that material in Northern Ireland. “Relevant material” is defined in Article 2. The principal controls are in Article 5, which contains general prohibitions and restrictions on relevant material being landed in Northern Ireland, Article 6, which requires importers to provide the Department with advance notice of landing of relevant material and Article 7, which imposes requirements for relevant material to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. Article 8 exempts certain relevant material which is brought into Northern Ireland in a person’s baggage from these prohibitions and requirements. Article 9 imposes requirements relating to the contents, display and presentation of documents required to accompany relevant material. Articles 10 to 12 provide that certain relevant material shall not be removed from an area of plant health control (defined in Article 10(2)) until, having satisfied himself as to the matters specified in Article 12, an inspector has discharged that material. Articles 13 and 14 provide for an officer for Revenue and Customs to be able to detain relevant material from which an inspector considers a plant pest may spread. Article 15 contains general requirements to be met by phytosanitary documentation. Articles 16 to 18 introduce provisions to allow relevant material to be inspected at its place of destination provided that place is approved by the relevant authorities and the material is accompanied by a plant health movement document. Part 3 of this Order contains the prohibitions and restrictions that apply to relevant material coming to Northern Ireland from another part of the European Community (which includes other parts of the United Kingdom) and on the movement of that material within Northern Ireland. The requirements for such material to be accompanied by a plant passport are imposed by Article 21. Part 4 of this Order imposes a requirement on plant traders to be registered in respect of their activities (Articles 25 to 28) and provides for the Department to be able to authorise them to issue plant passports (Article 29). Part 5 contains special arrangements governing trade in relevant material between Northern Ireland and Switzerland. Part 6 contains general enforcement powers given to plant health inspectors. Part 7 imposes additional requirements in respect of certain solanaceous species (potatoes and tomatoes). Part 8 provides for the Department to be able to license activities that would otherwise by prohibited by this Order. Part 9 imposes requirements to notify the presence of certain pests to the Department. Part 10 contains offences for non-compliance with this Order or with requirements imposed under it (Article 44(1)); in relation to making statements or failing to disclose information for the purpose of procuring a plant health document (Article 44(3)) and for dishonestly issuing, altering or re-using a plant passport (Article 44(4)). (Contravention of any prohibition on landing imposed by this Order is an offence under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2) and not under this Order.) A person found guilty of an offence under this Order is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale (Article 45). A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this Order as it has no impact on the costs for business.

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