UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) (Butchers' Shops) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations…

the instrument as a whole of The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) (Butchers' Shops) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2000

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) (Butchers' Shops) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2000.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
29 March 2000
In force from
8 May 2000
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 which extend only to Scotland further amend the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 (“the general Regulations”) by introducing a requirement for the premises of butcher’s shops to be licensed by food authorities. Butcher’s shops for these purposes are fixed or moveable premises in which unwrapped raw meat is handled and from which both raw meat and ready to eat food are sold to consumers (See the definition of “butcher’s shop” in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1A). Regulation 2 amends regulation 3 of the general Regulations so that the provisions relating to the licensing of butchers' shops do not apply to those businesses to which the sectorial provisions listed in that regulation apply. Regulation 3 inserts the provisions set out in the Schedule as Schedule 1A which make provision for the licensing of butchers' shops. Paragraph 4 of the Schedule makes provision for applications for licences and provides that a charge of £100 is payable in respect of the issue of a licence. Paragraph 5 imposes licence conditions. Paragraph 6 provides that licences remain in force for periods of a year or until the proprietor ceases to be proprietor of the premises. Paragraph 7 has effect where a proprietor who holds a licence in respect of a butcher’s shop applies for a further licence in respect to his shop up to 4 months before the expiry of his existing licence. If the further licence is granted, it begins on the expiry of the existing licence so that the proprietor is not prejudiced by making an application before his existing licence expires. Paragraph 9 provides for the suspension and revocation of licences and permits the premises of established butcher shops to continue to be used subject to conditions where a licence has been refused or revoked. Regulation 4 amends regulation 6(1) of the general Regulations so that using premises as a butcher’s shop otherwise thanin accordance with a licence is a criminal offence. Regulation 5 contains transitional provisions so that licences may be issued before the first day on which they are required. Such licences remain in force for the period of one year beginning on that day. A Regulatory Impact Assessment of these Regulations has been prepared and lodged with the Information Centre of the Scottish Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency, Sixth Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen AB11 6NG.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.57.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.57 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