UK Offence Report

Offences and penalty

regulation 11 of The Eggs (Marketing Standards) (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (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

11 If any person contravenes or fails to comply with–

a any specified Community provision; or

b any requirement properly imposed on that person under regulation

5 or 10, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 11?

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 Eggs (Marketing Standards) (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2005, 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
8 June 2005
In force from
1 July 2005
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 apply to Scotland, revoke and replace the Eggs (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1995 (as amended). They make provision for the enforcement and execution of certain specified Community provisions (defined in regulation 2) which relate to marketing standards for shell eggs and to the production and marketing of eggs for hatching and of farmyard poultry chicks. The specified Community provisions are detailed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. The principal changes are the inclusion of provisions which– a authorise livestock grazing on open air runs in certain cases (regulation 6); b authorise the production of free range and barn eggs in establishments not complying with the obligations referred to in the second sentence of point 1(d) and point 1(e) of Article 4 of Council Directive 1999/74/EC as amended in the case of free range hens and points 2 and 3(a)(i) and 3(b)(i) of Article 4(1) of that Directive; c permit the marking of eggs for hatching in a different manner to that specified in Article 2(1) of Commission Regulation 1868/77, for the purpose of Article 2(2) of that Regulation (regulation 8); d require the Scottish Ministers to act as the registration authority for the purposes of Article 3 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2782/75 (regulation 9); and e provide a right of appeal against certain decisions of the Scottish Ministers (regulation 13). The Regulations continue to include provisions which:– a implement the public health conditions laid down by Council Decision 94/371/EC (regulation 3); b designate the authorities who are to enforce the specified Community provisions (regulation 4); c enable an authorised officer of an enforcement authority to impose requirements relating to specified Community provisions (regulation 5); d enable an enforcement authority to require records to be kept (regulation 10); and e create offences and prescribe penalties (regulation 11). These Regulations come into force on 1st July 2005. A Regulatory Impact Assessment of the effect which this instrument will have on the costs of business has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Reference Centre.

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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