UK Offence Report

Offences relating to the packaging and selling of olive oil

regulation 4(1) of The Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (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 he—

a sells, at the retail stage or otherwise, any oil in contravention of Article 4.1 of Regulation 865/2004 (which provides that certain trade descriptions and definitions of oil shall, in relation to the marketing of oil, be compulsory) as read with the Annex to that Regulation and with Regulation 2568/91;

b sells any oil other than relevant oil in contravention of Article 4.2 of Regulation 865/2004 (which provides that only oil satisfying certain descriptions shall be marketed at the retail stage) as read with the Annex to that Regulation and with Regulation 2568/91;

c sells relevant oil in packaging which in contravention of Article

2 of Regulation 1019/2002 (which sets out rules for packaging oil)—

i exceeds

a maximum capacity of five litres; or

ii is fitted with an opening system which can be sealed after the first time it is opened; or

d sells any relevant oil in contravention of Article

3 of Regulation 1019/2002 (which requires that the labelling of such oil shall bear information on the category of oil, in addition to the trade description).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 a person 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 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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

h (2), be a defence for the person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by himself or by a person under his control. 2 If in any case the defence provided by paragraph (1) involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to an act or default of another person, or to relianc

What would breach regulation 4(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. Selling the goods under the Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
23 April 2008
In force from
20 June 2008
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 20th June 2008. They– provide for the application of— c Article 4 of Regulation No. 865/2004 of the Council on the establishment of a common organisation of the market in olive oil and table olives (“Regulation 865/2004”) (O.J. No. 206, 9.6.2004, p.37); and d Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1019/2002 on marketing standards for olive oil (“Regulation 1019/2002”) (O.J. No. 155, 14.6.2002, p.27) as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1044/2006 (O.J. No. L. 187, 8.7.2006, p.20). Article 4 of Regulation 865/2004 makes the use of prescribed descriptions and definitions of olive oils and olive-pomace oils compulsory for the purposes of trade, and prohibits retail marketing of certain categories of oil. Regulation 1019/2002 lays down specific standards for retail stage marketing of certain olive and olive-pomace oils (referred to as “relevant oil” in this Regulation), in particular, packaging and detailed labelling rules. In implementation of Regulations 136/66, 865/2004 and 1019/2002, these Regulations— i designate the authorities who are to enforce the Regulations (regulation 3); ii prescribe offences and penalties for contravention of Regulations 136/66, 865/2004 and 1019/2002 (regulations 4-8), and certain defences (regulations 15-16); and iii create powers of entry, inspection, sampling and production of documents (regulation 11). A person will be guilty of an offence if he: contravenes Article 35 of Regulation 136/66 (regulation 4); contravenes Article 4 of Regulation 865/2004 (regulation 4); packages relevant oil in quantities exceeding 5 litres, or in packaging with an opening system which can be resealed after first opening (regulation 4); sells relevant oil without providing information on the category of oil (regulation 4); includes on the packaging for sale of relevant oil a designation of origin in contravention of Article 4 or Regulation 1019/2002 (regulation 5); includes on the labelling of relevant oil optional indications in contravention of Article 5 of Regulation 1019/2002 (regulation 6); includes on the labelling of blended oil any images or graphics highlighting the presence of relevant oil, where there is not more than 50% of such oil in the blend, or otherwise contravenes Article 6 of Regulation 1019/2002 (regulation 7); or intentionally obstructs an authorised officer enforcing these Regulations or fails to supply required information (regulation 12). The offences in regulations 4, 5, 6 and 7 carry a penalty on conviction of a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum. The offences in regulation 12 carry a penalty on conviction of a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. These Regulations revoke the Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 with savings.

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