UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Sweeteners in Food Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004

the instrument as a whole of The Sweeteners in Food Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Sweeteners in Food 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
21 December 2004
In force from
29 January 2005
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 Sweeteners in Food Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/3123 as amended; “the principal Regulations”) to implement– a Directive 2003/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 94/35/EC on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs (O.J. No. L 24, 29.1.2004, p.65); and b Commission Directive 2004/46/EC amending Directive 95/31/EC laying down specific criteria of purity concerning sweeteners for use in foodstuffs, as regards E955 Sucralose and E962 Salt of aspartame acesulfame (O.J. No. L 114, 21.4.2004, p.15). These Regulations amend the principal Regulations by– a bringing up to date the definition of “Directive 94/35/EC” so as to cover the amendment of that Directive by Directive 2003/115/EC (regulation 3(1)(a)); b bringing up to date the definition of “Directive 95/31/EC” so as to cover its amendment by Directive 2004/46/EC (regulation 3(1)(b)); c substituting a new definition for the term “permitted sweetener” to reflect the fact that Sucralose and the Salt of aspartame-acesulfame are now permitted sweeteners (regulation 3(1)(c)); d making minor amendments to the term “maximum usable dose” as applied to those sweeteners which under the Regulations are permitted to be used in specified foodstuffs (regulation 3(2)); e making explicit the fact that Schedule 1 (permitted sweeteners and the foods in or on which they may be used) is to be read in conjunction with the notes thereto (regulation 4(a)); f deleting the provision which laid down that the controls on the use in specified foods of aspartame and acesulfame to be contained in Schedule 1 applied also to Salt of aspartame-acesulfame in such foods (regulation 4(b)); g extending to Salt of aspartame and acesulfame the existing requirement that table top sweeteners containing aspartame be marked or labelled as specified in the Regulations (regulation 5); h including transitional provisions (regulation 6); i adding a further category of food to the categories in which the permitted sweetener E951 Aspartame may lawfully be used and specifying the maximum usable dose applicable to such use (regulation 7(a)); j as regards the permitted sweetener E952 Cyclamic Acid and its Na and Ca salts, reducing the maximum usable dose of that sweetener applicable in relation to specified foods, and making it unlawful to use that sweetener in specified items of confectionery and in certain edible ices (regulation 7(b)); k inserting into Schedule 1 new entries relating to the permitted sweeteners E955 Sucralose and to E962 Salt of aspartame-acesulfame (regulation 7(c) and (d) respectively); l omitting the entries relating to Sucralose previously contained in Schedule 1 (regulation 7(e)); m in accordance with Directive 2003/115/EC, substituting new descriptions for the descriptions of certain food categories specified in Column 3 of Schedule 1 (regulation 7(f) to (j)); and n adding to Schedule 1 further footnotes relating to the permitted sweetener Salt of aspartame-acesulfame (regulation 7(h)). A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the effect that these Regulations would have on business has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency (Scotland), 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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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