UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Amendment (Scotland)…

the instrument as a whole of The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

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
17 March 2004
In force from
24 April 2004
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 to Scotland only, amend the Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/1540, as already amended by S.S.I. 2000/62 and 2003/139) (“the 1999 Regulations”). Regulations 1 to 4, 6 to 7, 8(1), 9 to 10, 11(b) and (c), 12(1) and 13 to 15 come into force on 24th April 2004 and regulations 5, 8(2), 11(a) and 12(2) come into force on 1st July 2004. The Regulations implement Commission Directive 2003/40/EC establishing the list, concentration limits and labelling requirements for the constituents of natural mineral waters and the conditions for using ozone-enriched air for the treatment of natural mineral waters and spring waters (O.J. No. L 126, 22.5.03, p.34). The Regulations — a prescribe a definition of authorised ozone-enriched air oxidation technique (regulation 3 and the Schedule); b allow, for the first time, treatment of natural mineral waters with an authorised ozone-enriched air oxidation technique (regulation 4); c set maximum limits for certain naturally-occurring substances in natural mineral water and standards for methods used to detect these substances (regulation 5 and the Schedule); d provide for an exception for products produced in other EEA States which do not yet conform to the limits, where the EEA State concerned has not yet implemented those limits and the deadline for implementation has not yet passed (regulation 5); e prohibit the treatment of natural mineral water with unauthorised ozone-enriched air oxidation techniques (regulation 6); f provide for an appropriate form of labelling indication on natural mineral water where it has undergone an authorised treatment with ozone-enriched air or where it contains a high level of fluoride (regulation 7); g prohibit the sale of natural mineral water without the applicable labelling indications (which will become an offence by virtue of the operation of regulation 17 of the 1999 Regulations which also specifies a penalty of a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale) (regulation 8); h provide for an appropriate labelling indication where a spring water has undergone an authorised ozone-enriched air oxidation technique and prohibit its sale without that labelling indication (which will become an offence by virtue of the operation of regulation 11(5) of the 1999 Regulations, the penalty for which is specified by regulation 17 of the 1999 Regulations as being a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale) (regulation 9); i prohibit bottling or sale of water described as spring water if treated with an unauthorised ozone-enriched air oxidation treatment (regulation 10); j create offences in relation to the prohibitions mentioned in paragraphs (c),(e) and (i) above (subject to penalties provided for in the 1999 Regulations as being a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale) (regulation 11); k introduce a transitional defence to allow the use of stock products bottled and labelled before 1st July 2004. l provide that the maximum limits in the new Schedule 6 to be added to the 1999 Regulations shall be the relevant limits for recognition of a natural mineral water, replacing the limits in Schedule 3 to the 1999 Regulations for this purpose (regulation 13); m correct a minor error in the 1999 Regulations (regulation 14); n insert a new Schedule 5 into the 1999 Regulations, which sets down — i conditions to be satisfied before an ozone-enriched air oxidation technique can be authorised; ii a process for obtaining a written authorisation for a treatment from a food authority; iii a requirement to allow officers of the food authority to conduct periodic examinations of the process in order to check that the treatment continues to be necessary and is effective and safe; iv the ability of a food authority to withdraw authorisation by means of a written notice if conditions are not observed; v a mechanism for applying to the Food Standards Agency for review of a food authority’s decision not to grant or to withdraw authorisation (regulation 15 and the Schedule); o insert a new Schedule 6 into the 1999 Regulations, setting down maximum limits for certain naturally-occurring substances in natural mineral water (regulation 15 and the Schedule); p insert a new Schedule 7 containing standards for scientific methods used to detect the substances specified in Schedule 6 (regulation 15 and the Schedule). A Regulatory Impact Assessment, which includes a compliance cost assessment of the effect which these Regulations have on business costs, has been prepared and has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from 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 0.61.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.61 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