UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations…

the instrument as a whole of The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007, 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
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
12 September 2007
In force from
15 October 2007
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, implement a number of Community instruments relating to foods for particular nutritional uses through amendment of a series of statutory instruments. The following instruments are amended: a The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/77 as amended). Regulation 22 is amended to take account of the derogation in Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1609/2006 regarding compositional criteria of infant formulae (regulation 2); b The Foods Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/2182, as amended). This amendment implements Commission Directive 2007/29/EC amending Directive 96/8/EC as regards labelling, advertising or presenting foods intended for use in energy restricted diets for weight reduction (O.J. No. L 139, 31.5.07, p.22). Regulation 4 is amended to remove the restriction on using wording referring to “a reduction in the sense of hunger or an increase in the sense of satiety” in the labelling, advertising or presentation of food. Health claims that relate to such wording are now covered by Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods (O.J. No. L 12, 18.1.07, p.3) (regulation 3); c The Foods for Special Medical Purposes (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (S.S.I. 2000/130, as amended). Regulation 2 is amended to update a definition of a Commission Directive which has itself been amended. This implements Commission Directive 2006/82/EC adapting Directive 91/321/EEC on infant formulae and follow-on formulae and Directive 1999/21/EC on dietary foods for special medical purposes, by reason of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania (regulation 4); d The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Addition of Substances for Specific Nutritional Purposes) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 (S.S.I. 2002/397, as amended). Regulation 3(5) is amended to allow the sale of certain foods until 1st January 2010. This implements Commission Directive 2007/26/EC amending Directive 2004/6/EC to extend its period of application (O.J. No. L 118, 8.5.07, p.5) (regulation 5); and e The Processed Cereal-based Foods and Baby Foods for Infants and Young Children (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (S.S.I. 2004/8, as amended). Regulation 2 is amended to substitute a definition of Directive as the existing Directive (96/5/EC) referred to has now been repealed by Commission Directive 2006/125/EC on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children (regulation 6). A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on business costs has been prepared and 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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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