UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Food (Pistachios from Iran) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2003

regulation 2(5) of The Food (Pistachios from Iran) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Amendment 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

10 Any person who breaches the terms of

a notice served under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale or to 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
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 2(5)?

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 breaches the terms of a notice served under paragraph (1) or (2).
  2. Moving the goods across the border under the Food (Pistachios from Iran) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 without the licence the instrument requires.
  3. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  4. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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
15 February 2005
In force from
17 February 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 extend to Scotland only, amend the Food (Pistachios from Iran) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (S.S.I. 2003/414, as amended by S.S.I. 2004/210) (“the principal Regulations”). The principal Regulations implemented Commission Decision 97/830/EC repealing Commission Decision 97/613/EC and imposing special conditions on the import of pistachios and certain products derived from pistachios originating in, or consigned from Iran (O.J. No. L 343, 13.12.97, p.30) as last amended by Commission Decision 2004/429/EC (O.J. No. L 154, 30.4.04, p.20). The amendments made by these Regulations implement Commission Decision 2005/85/EC imposing special conditions on the import of pistachios and certain products derived from pistachios originating in, or consigned from Iran (O.J. No. L 30, 3.2.05, p.12), “the new Decision”. The new Decision repealed Commission Decision 97/830/EC. The main differences between the new Decision and Commission Decision 97/830/EC are that– a Article 1.1 of the new Decision provides that the health certificate required to accompany a consignment of “Iranian pistachios” (defined in regulation 2(1) of the principal Regulations) shall be valid for import carried out no more than 4 months after the issue date of the health certificate; and b Article 3 of the new Decision provides that certain costs relating to the import controls on Iranian pistachios imposed by the Decision and the costs relating to official measures taken against non compliant consignments of Iranian pistachios shall be borne by the person responsible for the consignment. The change described in paragraph (a) above is effected by substituting a definition of the new Decision for the definition of Commission Decision 97/830/EC in regulation 2(1) of the principal Regulations and making consequential changes to regulations 3(1) and 4(3) of the principal Regulations (regulation 2(2)(a), (3) and (4)). The change described in paragraph (b) above is effected by inserting a new regulation providing for recovery of costs by food authorities in the principal Regulations (regulation 2(6)). Regulation 6 of the principal Regulations is amended to provide that pistachios not re-dispatched in accordance with the terms of a notice served under regulation 6(1)(a) can be the subject of a second notice requiring their destruction (regulation 2(5)). These Regulations insert an updated definition of “Directive 98/53/EC”. They also revoke redundant measures relating to Commission Decision 97/830/EC (regulation 3). No regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in relation to these Regulations.

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