UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 6 of The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Addition of Substances for Specific Nutritional Purposes) (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

6 If any person–

a contravenes regulation 3(1) or (4); or

b without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation 4(1) or (3), that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

6 If any person– a contravenes regulation 3(1) or (4); or b without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation 4(1) or (3), that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 6?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Addition of Substances for Specific Nutritional Purposes) (Scotland) Regulations 2002, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. 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)
Not determined

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
30 August 2002
In force from
Not determined
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, implement Commission Directive 2001/15/EC on substances that may be added for specific nutritional purposes in foods for particular nutritional uses. These Regulations concern food for most particular nutritional uses (definition of “designated PNU food” in regulation 2(1) which excludes infant formulae, follow-on formulae, processed cereal-based foods and baby foods intended for infants and young children) where there has been added to that food for a specific nutritional purpose a substance falling within one of the following categories: vitamins; minerals; amino acids; carnitine and taurine; nucleotides, choline and inositol. The Regulations prohibit the sale of such food unless the substance is listed under the relevant category in Schedule 1 or, in the case of foods for special medical purposes, is listed under the relevant category in either Schedule 1 or 2. Relevant purity criteria must be met for the substance (regulation 3(1) to (3)). The Regulations also impose general restrictions on the sale of designated PNU foods in the manufacture of which any substances have been used for specific nutritional purposes unless such food is safe and fulfils the particular nutritional requirements of the persons for whom it is intended (regulation 3(4)). The regulations require prior notification of the placing on the market for the first time of certain designated PNU foods to which L-tryptophan has been added for a specific nutritional purpose (notifiable food is defined in regulation 2(1)), and prohibit the sale of such foods where the notification requirement has not been met (regulation 4(1)) in order to enable the Food Standards Agency to verify that the requirements of regulation 3(4) are met. The Regulations also require the manufacturer or importer in the case of all other designated PNU foods to supply the Food Standards Agency with information if the Agency so requests to verify that those requirements of regulation 3(4) are met (regulation 4(3)). The Regulations make provision as to responsibilities for enforcement (regulation 5); create offences and penalties (regulation 6) and apply certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 8). The Regulations provide a defence in relation to exports, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EEC (O.J. No. L 186, 30.6.89, p.23) on the official control of foodstuffs (regulation 7). The Regulations also disapply the prohibitions in the Tryptophan in Food (Scotland) Regulations 1990 in so far as they conflict with Directive 2001/15/EC, Article 5 of Commission Directive 91/321/EEC (O.J. No. L 175, 4.7.91, p.35) on infant formulae and follow-on formulae and Article 5 of Commission Directive 96/5/EC (O.J. No. L 49, 28.2.96, p.17) on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children. A Regulatory Impact Assessment, which includes a compliance cost assessment of the effect which these Regulations would have on business costs has been prepared and has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Food Labelling and Standards Division of the Food Standards Agency, 6th Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen AB11 6NJ.

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 0.92.

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