UK Offence Report

Seizure and disposal of products and requirements to recover or export

paragraph 7(6)(a) of SCHEDULE 1 of Plant Protection Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011

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

a state that the authorised person is of the opinion that

a person is committing, has committed or is likely to commit an offence contrary to these Regulation and specify the 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 authorised person
Conduct
breaching the provision
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 authorised 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

er than in relation to regulation 14(2), 21(1)(a) or 21(2), it is a defence for the person charged to prove that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. 2 A person is to be taken to have established the defence provided by paragraph (1) if they prove— a that they acted under instructions given to

What would breach paragraph 7(6)(a) of SCHEDULE 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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Plant Protection Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011.

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
19 August 2011
In force from
Not determined
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 revoke and replace the Plant Protection Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005. These Regulations, in respect of Northern Ireland, provide for the enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC (“Regulation 1107/2009”) and of certain provisions of these Regulations. Regulation 1107/2009 repeals Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (OJ L230, 19.8.1991, p.1.), which prohibited the placing on the market and use of plant protection products containing certain active substances. Regulation 1107/2009 lays down harmonised rules for the approval of active substances and the placing on the market of plant protection products and its main purpose is to ensure a high level of protection of both human and animal health and the environment and at the same time to safeguard the competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union. The terms and expressions used in these Regulations are defined in regulation 2. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is designated as the competent authority for the purposes of Article 75(1) of Regulation 1107/2009 in regulation 3. Regulation 4 provides for emergency measures to be taken by the Department in circumstances where treated seeds are likely to constitute a serious risk to human or animal health or to the environment. Regulation 5 provides that these Regulations are enforced by the Department. Regulations 6 and 7 provide for persons to be authorised to exercise the powers set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations and for them to provide evidence of their authorisation on request. Regulations 8 to 19 make provision for the enforcement of Regulation 1107/2009 by identifying who is responsible for complying with the requirements and prohibitions in that Regulation and regulation 13 gives effect to Schedule 2 (Adjuvants). Regulations 20 and 21 provide for the enforcement of these Regulations by creating a requirement to comply with notices issued under these Regulations and a requirement and prohibitions in relation to preventing an authorised person from performing his or her functions under these Regulations. Regulation 22 creates the criminal offence for contravention of or failure to comply with regulation 8 to 21, and Articles 56(1), 56(4) and Article 62(2). Regulation 23 makes provision in relation to offences by bodies corporate. Regulation 24 provides, in relation to certain regulations, the defence of having taken all reasonable precautions and having exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. Regulation 25 sets out the penalties for offences under these Regulations. Regulation 26 describes the circumstances in which an authorised person may perform his or her function in relation to land in which there is a Crown interest. Regulation 27 provides that the Plant Protection Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 (S.R. 2005/526) are saved for applications set out in Article 80(5) of Regulation 1107/2009 and approvals granted under those Regulations are deemed granted under Regulation 1107/2009. It also provides that plant protection approvals under the Control of Pesticide Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (S.R. 1987/414) and valid parallel trade approvals that are valid on the dates these Regulations come into operation are deemed to be authorised in accordance with Regulation 1107/2009. Regulation 28 provides for the amendments and revocations set out in Schedules 3 and 4 respectively.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 “commits 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