UK Offence Report

Offences of contravening specified provisions of Regulation 1935/2004

regulation 4(3) of The Materials and Articles in Contact with Food 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

3 Any person who contravenes paragraph (1) or (2) or Article 11(4) or (5) (Community authorisation) or 17(2) (traceability) is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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

a defence to prove that the person accused (“the accused”) took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by the accused or by a person under the control of the accused. 2 Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), a person accused of an offence under regulation 4(3), 7(1), 14(1), 16(4) or 19(1) who did not import

What would breach regulation 4(3)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes paragraph (1) or (2) or Article 11(4) or (5) (Community authorisation) or 17(2) (traceability).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
22 October 2012
In force from
20 November 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.

The Regulations provide for the implementation of the following Directives and the enforcement of the following EU Regulations — a Council Directive 78/142/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to materials and articles which contain vinyl chloride monomer and are intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No. L44, 15.2.1978, p.15) (“Directive 78/142”); b Council Directive 84/500/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to ceramic articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No. L277, 20.10.1984, p.12) (“Directive 84/500”); c Commission Directive 2007/42/EC relating to materials and articles made of regenerated cellulose film intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No. L172, 30.6.2007, p.71) (“Directive 2007/42”); d Regulation (EC) No.1935/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food and repealing Directives 80/590/EEC and 89/109/EEC (OJ No. L338, 13.11.2004, p.4) (“Regulation 1935/2004”); e Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1895/2005 on the restriction of use of certain epoxy derivatives in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (OJ No. L302, 19.11.2005, p.28) (“Regulation 1895/2005”); f Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice for materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (OJ No. L384, 29.12.2006, p.75) (“Regulation 2023/2006”); g Commission Regulation (EC) No. 450/2009 on active and intelligent materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (OJ No. L135, 30.5.2009, p.3) (“Regulation 450/2009”); and h Commission Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (OJ No. L12, 15.1.2011, p.1) (“Regulation 10/2011”). These Regulations revoke the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009 No. 56). They also revoke and re-enact with certain amendments the provisions of the Ceramic Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.R. 2006 No. 217) and the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (S.R. 2010 No. 321). These Regulations provide that references to a specified EU instrument or specified parts of it are to be construed as references to the instrument or parts of it as they may be amended from time to time (regulation 2(3)). These Regulations do not apply to materials or articles outside the scope of Regulation 1935/2004 (regulation 3). The materials identified in that Regulation as being outside its scope are materials and articles supplied as antiques, covering or coating materials forming part of the food and which may be consumed with it and fixed public or private water supply equipment. Part 2 of these Regulations contains provisions which make it an offence to contravene certain requirements of Regulation 1935/2004 (regulation 4) and Regulation 2023/2006 (regulation 5). Regulation 1935/2004 is the principal framework Regulation on materials and articles in contact with food. Part 2 also provides for designation of the competent authorities for the various purposes identified in Regulations 1935/2004 and 2023/2006 (regulation 6). Part 3 provides for the enforcement of specified provisions of Regulation 450/2009 (regulation 7) and designates the competent authorities for the purposes of that Regulation (regulation 8). Part 4 implements Directive 84/500, and the definition of a ceramic article is set out in regulation 9. It provides that a person must not place on the market a ceramic article that does not meet the specifications set out in the Directive (regulation 10). This regulation additionally contains requirements relating to documentary proof of compliance which apply to new but not to second hand ceramic articles. Part 5 of these Regulations, which implements Directive 2007/42, contains requirements relating to regenerated cellulose film and identifies the various types of such film to which the provisions apply (regulation 11). This Part, in regulation 12, contains conditions relating to the substances that may be used for the manufacture of regenerated cellulose film (paragraphs (1) to (4)), specifies that the printed surface of regenerated film must not come into contact with food (paragraph (5)) and specifies certain documentation and labelling requirements (paragraphs (6) and (7)). Part 6 of these Regulations provides for the enforcement of Regulation 10/2011 and identifies those provisions of the EU Regulation which it constitutes an offence to contravene (regulation 14 and the Schedule). The competent authorities for the purposes of certain provisions of Regulation 10/2011 are designated in regulation 15. Part 7 provides for the continuing enforcement of Regulation 1895/2005 which maintains a ban on the epoxy derivatives BFDGE and NOGE and restrictions on the use of BADGE (regulation 16). The competent authorities for the purpose of this EU Regulation are designated in regulation 17. Part 8 maintains the controls on the use of vinyl chloride put in place by Directive 78/142 to the extent that those controls are not now effected by Regulation 10/2011 (regulation 18). Part 9 contains enforcement and associated provisions that — a penalise contravention of these Regulations or obstruction of those enforcing them (regulation 19); b designate enforcement authorities for various functions under the Regulations (regulation 20); c provide for the prosecution of a person who causes the commission of an offence by another person, whether or not proceedings are taken against the original offender (regulation 21); d specify a time limit for commencing a prosecution (regulation 22); e provide for a defence of due diligence to an offence under these Regulations (regulation 23); f specify the procedure to be followed when sending a sample for analysis (regulation 24); g make provision for a reference sample to be analysed by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (regulation 25);and h apply certain provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 for the purposes of these Regulations (regulation 26). Part 10 contains general and supplementary provisions which — a make consequential amendments to Schedule 1 to the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 (regulation 27); b maintain an amendment to the Food Labelling Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 383) and provide for that amendment to expire on a date when directly applicable EU food labelling provisions take effect (regulation 28); c provide for the revocation of specified Regulations (regulation 29).

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