UK Offence Report

Obstruction of officers

article 9(1) of The Sea Fishing (Marking and Identification of Passive Fishing Gear and Beam Trawls) Order (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

9 1 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on British sea-fishery officers by Articles 6 or 7; b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c assaults or intentionally obstructs an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred on him by Articles 6 or 7, or any person assisting such officer by virtue of Article 6(2), shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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).

“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

9 1 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on British sea-fishery officers by Articles 6 or 7; b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any such

What would breach article 9(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 Sea Fishing (Marking and Identification of Passive Fishing Gear and Beam Trawls) Order (Northern Ireland) 2008.
  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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
3 December 2008
In force from
31 December 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order provides for the enforcement of Community restrictions and other obligations relating to the marking and identification of passive gear and beam trawls deployed by fishing vessels as set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 356/2005, of 2 March 2005, p.8, OJ L56, as amended. In the context of this Order passive gear means longlines, gillnets, entangling nets, trammel nets, drifting gillnets and any associated anchoring, floating or navigational gear. This Order applies to Northern Ireland fishing boats wherever they are, except within the territorial sea and to all other boats in the Northern Ireland zone, but outside the territorial sea. This Order comes into operation on 31st December 2008. Article 3 of the Order creates offences in respect of breaches of those articles of the Regulation referred to in column 1 of the Schedule to the Order. Penalties are specified for such offences in Article 4. Provision is made for the recovery of fines in Article 5. The Order confers powers of enforcement on British sea-fishery officers (Articles 6 and 7). Article 8 makes provision for the protection of British sea fishery officers and their assistants and Article 9 provides for offences and penalties should they be obstructed in the course of their investigations under this Order. Article 10 makes provision in respect of offences by bodies corporate, partnerships and unincorporated associations. Article 11 allows for the admissibility in evidence of records compiled for the purposes of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93.

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