UK Offence Report

Prohibition of importation and offence

regulation 3(3) of The Food and Animal Feedingstuffs (Products of Animal Origin from China) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (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

3 Any person who knowingly contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale or imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

What would breach regulation 3(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 knowingly contravenes paragraph (1).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Food and Animal Feedingstuffs (Products of Animal Origin from China) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2002, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

in Scotland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (CP(S)A 1995 s.225(2)), 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
19 June 2002
In force from
20 June 2002
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which extend to Scotland only, revoke and re enact with changes the Food and Animal Feedingstuffs (Products of Animal Origin from China) (Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2002. They implement Commission Decision 2002/441/EC amending Decision 2002/69/EC concerning certain protective measures with regard to the products of animal origin imported from China. These Regulations define “relevant product of animal origin” (regulation 2); they prohibit, with exceptions (which are specified in the definition of “relevant product of animal origin”), importation of relevant products of animal origin (regulation 3). They also specify the enforcement authorities (regulation 4) and apply with modifications, for the purposes of the Regulations, certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) Regulations 1990 (regulation 5). The principal changes to the revoked Regulations are that– a the exceptions referred to above are modified as regards the types of products to which, and the circumstances in which, they apply; and b a specific obligation is imposed on consignors or consignees of any product subject to the Regulations to re imburse the food authority on demand in relation to costs it incurs in complying with Commission Decision 2002/69/EC (as amended by Commission Decision 2002/441/EC) in relation to that product. No Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.

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