UK Offence Report

Obstruction of officers

article 10(1) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000 (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

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, 7 or 8; b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c obstructs any such officer in the exercise of any of those powers, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

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, 7 or 8; b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with any su

What would breach article 10(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 (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000.
  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
9 March 2000
In force from
31 March 2000
Extent
S

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 revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1949) and the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Amendment) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/2841) (article 13). The Order re-enacts provisions for the enforcement of Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 894/97 (O.J. No. L132, 23.5.97, p.1) laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources (“Regulation 894/97”) and makes provisions for the enforcement of certain of the enforceable Community restrictions and obligations concerning the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms which are contained in Council Regulations (EC) No. 850/98 (O.J. No. L125, 27.4.98, p.1), as amended (“the Council Regulation”). The Order creates offences in respect of breaches of Regulation 894/97, and of the Council Regulation (article 3). The Order provides penalties in relation to an offence under article 3 of the Order or any equivalent provision extending to any other part of the United Kingdom proceedings in respect of which were brought in Scotland by virtue of section 30 (2A) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29) (article 4). (Section 30 (2A) was inserted by the Scotland Act (Consequential Modifications) (No. 2) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1820), Schedule 2, paragraph 68 (5)(a)). The Order makes provision in relation to the recovery of fines imposed in respect of such offences or an offence under article 10 (obstruction of officers) (article 5). The Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers of enforcement in relation to fishing boats and on land. These include power to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8). Provision is also made in relation to the liability of officers for anything done in the purported exercise of powers conferred by the Order (article 9). The Order creates offences and provides penalties in respect of the obstruction of a British sea-fishery officer and makes provision in relation to offences committed by bodies corporate and Scottish partnerships and the admissibility of certain documents (articles 10, 11 and 12).

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