UK Offence Report

Obstruction of officers

article 16(1) of The Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018

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 is guilty of an offence if that person—

a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by an officer under the powers conferred by this Order;

b without reasonable excuse, prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any such requirement;

c conceals, tampers with or disposes of evidence relating to an investigation;

d assaults an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred by this Order; or

e intentionally obstructs an officer in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by this Order.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

1 A person is guilty of an offence if that person— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by an officer under the powers conferred by this Order; b without reasonable excuse, prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any such requirement; c conceals, tampers with or disposes of ev

What would breach article 16(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 (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018.
  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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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 May 2018
In force from
1 June 2018
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 makes provision for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008 (OJ No. L 286, 29.10.2008, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) 1010/2009 (OJ No. L 280, 27.10.2009, p.5) (“the Commission Regulation”) establishing restrictions and obligations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Article 3 designates the competent authorities for the purposes of the Council Regulation and the Commission Regulation. Article 4 provides for controls on movement of consignments of fishery products while verifications are carried out pursuant to Article 17 of the Council Regulation or Article 20 of the Commission Regulation (which can include a request for assistance from the flag state of the fishing vessel to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within, or the validity of, the catch certificate). Article 5 permits movement of such consignments under certain circumstances. Article 6(1) provides for the refusal of importation or permission to use transhipment facilities in circumstances where a landing or transhipment declaration has not been submitted in accordance with Article 8 of the Council Regulation or Article 3 of the Commission Regulation. Articles 6(2) and (3) provide for the seizure and sale, disposal and destruction of fishery products upon refusal of importation in the circumstances set out in Article 18(1) or (2) the Council Regulation. Article 7 provides that a district council may charge a fee in respect of each consignment reflecting the expenses it has reasonably incurred. Article 8 provides that certain activities prohibited in the Council Regulation are offences punishable summarily or on indictment and Article 9 provides for the penalties for such offences. Articles 10 sets out the process in relation to the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrate’s court. Articles 11 to 14 provide for powers of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order. Article 15 describes conditions for the protection of British sea-fishery officers from civil or criminal proceedings as a result of actions taken to enforce this Order. Article 16 provides for an offence for the obstruction of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order. Articles 17 to 20 make provision for offences committed by bodies corporate, exchange of information, obtaining samples, and the admissibility of documents in evidence.

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