UK Offence Report

21 It is an offence for a person — a for the purpose of procuring the grant or amendment of a permit, - i to…

regulation 21 of The Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

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

21 It is an offence for

a person —

a for the purpose of procuring the grant or amendment of

a permit, -

i to make

a statement which that person knows or suspects is false or misleading in

a material particular; or

ii intentionally to fail to disclose any material particular;

b to abandon or allow to escape any aquatic organism, the movement of which took place under

a permit or under

a notice served under regulation 7(2)(b) or (3)(b) (movement of an Annex IV species) unless the person can show that all reasonable steps were taken and due diligence exercised to avoid the abandonment or escape;

c to fail, without reasonable cause, to give an inspector any assistance or information which the inspector may reasonably require for the purposes of the inspector’s functions under these Regulations;

d intentionally to obstruct an inspector; or

e knowingly to give false or misleading information to an inspector.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally.

What would breach regulation 21?

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 Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012.
  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
7 September 2012
In force from
15 October 2012
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 implement Council Regulation (EC) No 708/2007 (O.J. No. L.168, 28.6.2007, p.1), as last amended by Regulation (EU) No. 304/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No.L.88, 4.4.2011, P.1) concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture. Part 2 of the Regulations deals with permits (regulation 5), environmental risk assessments (regulation 9), contingency plans (regulation 10) and monitoring (regulation 11). It also makes provision for the movement of species listed in Annex IV to Council Regulation 708/2007 and the translocation of locally absent species within Northern Ireland or to Northern Ireland from another part of the United Kingdom to be restricted (regulations 6 to 8). Part 3 gives enforcement powers to inspectors and makes provision for appeals. A person found guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or on conviction on indictment to an unlimited fine (regulation 23). Part 4 deals with miscellaneous provisions including consequential amendments to the Molluscan Shellfish (Control of Deposit) Order (Northern Ireland) 1972 and the Prohibition of Introduction of Fish Order (Northern Ireland) 1979. A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to the Regulations has been placed in the library of the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is available on the DARD website at www.dardni.gov.uk/index/publications/pubs-dard-fisheries-farming-and-food/alien-and-locally-absent-species-ria.htm.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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