UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 4(1) of The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Lid Gaskets) (Scotland) Regulations 2007

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 Any person who–

a contravenes or fails to comply with the requirements of Article

1 of, as read with the Annex to, the Commission Regulation (requirements relating to lids sealed with gaskets containing certain plastic materials);

b intentionally obstructs any person acting in the execution of these Regulations;

c without reasonable excuse, fails to give to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations or the Commission Regulation any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require; or

d in purported compliance with any requirement mentioned in sub paragraph (c), knowingly or recklessly supplies information that is false or misleading in any material particular, is guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

any person acting in the execution of these Regulations; c without reasonable excuse, fails to give to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations or the Commission Regulation any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require; or d in purported compliance with any requirement mentioned in sub paragraph (c), kn

What would breach regulation 4(1)?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Lid Gaskets) (Scotland) Regulations 2007.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Scotland) Regulations 2008
Revoked on
1 May 2008
Made
19 September 2007
In force from
29 October 2007
Extent
S

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

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, provide for the execution and enforcement of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 372/2007 laying down transitional migration limits for plasticisers in gaskets in lids intended to come into contact with foods (“the Commission Regulation”). The Regulations– a designate the bodies having the duty to enforce these Regulations and the Commission Regulation (regulation 3); b make it a solemn or summary offence to contravene the requirements of Article 1 of the Commission Regulation, which provides that lids containing gaskets made of plastic materials must comply with the detailed specifications set out in the Annex to that Regulation (regulation 4(1)(a) and (2)(a)); c make it a summary offence to obstruct, fail to give information to or give false information to anyone enforcing these Regulations (regulation 4(1)(b), (c) & (d) and (2)(b)); d specify a time limit for commencing a prosecution (regulation 5); e provide for defences of a general nature, such as exercising due diligence etc., to alleged offences under these Regulations (regulation 6); f specify the procedure to be followed when sending a sample for analysis (regulation 7); g make provision for a reference sample to be analysed by the Government Chemist (regulation 8); and h apply certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 for the purposes of these Regulations (regulation 9). 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 0.92.

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