UK Offence Report

Obstruction of officers

article 13(1) of The Sea Fishing (EU Recording and Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2010

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

1 A person is guilty of an offence if that person—

a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by

a British sea‑fishery officer under the powers conferred on such officers by article9 or 10;

b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with such requirement;

c conceals, tampers with or disposes of evidence relating to an investigation;

d assaults an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred by this Order; or

e obstructs any such officer in the exercise of the powers conferred by article 9,

10 or 11.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised); other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

The defence, as drafted

1 A person is guilty of an offence if that person— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea‑fishery officer under the powers conferred on such officers by article9 or 10; b without reasonable excuse prevents, or attempts to prevent, any other person from complying with such requirement; c conce

What would breach article 13(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 Sea Fishing (EU Recording and Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2010.
  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
£10,000
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
Status not determined
Made
16 September 2010
In force from
31 October 2010
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order enforces the EU obligations relating to sea fishing contained in— a Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93 (“Regulation 2847/93”), Articles 6, 8(1), 11(1) and 13; b Council Regulation (EC) No. 1006/2008, Articles 22 and 23(1); c Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1077/2008 (“Regulation 1077/2008”), Articles 2(1), 5(1) and (4), 10(1) and (3), 11(3) and 12(3) and (4); d Council Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009, Articles 15(1) and (2), 17(1) and (4), 18(1), 22(1), 24(1), 28(1), 62(1) and (5) and 66(1) and (3); and e Commission Regulation (EU) No. 201/2010, Article 8 and Annex II. These are requirements to record and report information relating to fishing activity undertaken by EU fishing boats wherever they may be, and by third country fishing boats within EU waters, and to the landing and first sale of fishery products in the EU. The Order forms part of the law of Scotland only. It applies to: Scottish fishing boats wherever they may be; EU and third country fishing boats within the Scottish zone, and registered buyers and sellers of fishery products in Scotland. The Order designates the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority to which information must be reported where it relates to fishing activity undertaken by Scottish fishing boats, or in the Scottish zone, or to fishery products landed, stored, transported or first sold in Scotland. It also specifies the methods by which such information must be reported to the Scottish Ministers (article 3). The Order provides for the Scottish Ministers to maintain, and publish on an official website, a register of all registered buyers and sellers responsible for the first sale of fishery products in Scotland which have the prescribed annual financial turnover (as defined in the Order) for the purposes of Articles 2(1) and 5(1) and (4) of Regulation 1077/2008. It requires registered buyers and sellers to inform the Scottish Ministers annually whether or not they have the prescribed annual financial turnover and makes it an offence to fail to comply with that requirement or to provide materially false information in purported compliance with that requirement (article 4). The Order makes it an offence to contravene any EU recording and reporting requirement or EU (third country) recording and reporting requirement (as defined in the Order), which are specified in Schedules 1 and 2 respectively, or to record or report materially false information in purported compliance with any requirement (articles 5 and 6). The Order specifies the penalties for a relevant offence (as defined in the Order) (article 7) and makes provision for the recovery of fines imposed in respect of a relevant offence or an offence under article13 of the Order (article 8). For the purpose of enforcing articles 4, 5 and 6 of the Order, or any equivalent provision, the Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers to: go on board fishing boats; search for and examine fishery products and equipment; require the production of documents; search for and seize documents; take a boat to the nearest convenient port; enter and inspect premises; stop and search vehicles transporting fish, and seize fish (articles 9 to 11). The Order provides for the protection of British sea-fishery officers in the exercise of their powers under the Order (article12). It creates offences of, and specifies the penalties for, obstructing such officers (article13). The Order makes provision in relation to offences committed by a body corporate, a Scottish partnership or other unincorporated association (article 14) and in relation to the admissibility in evidence of logbooks and other documents (article15). The Order revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000 (S.S.I. 2000/7) (“the 2000 Order”) and those instruments amending the 2000 Order (article 16). Articles 4 and 5 of this Order re-enact the following provisions of the 2000 Order: articles 2A and 3(3) and (4), as well as article 3(1) and (2) so far as it applies to Articles 6, 8(1), 11(1) and 13 of Regulation 2847/93 (referred to in entries 2(b), (d), (h) and (j) in the Schedule to the 2000 Order). The Order makes savings in relation to the 2000 Order and its amending instruments. These provide that, despite the commencement of this Order on 31stOctober 2010, the 2000 Order and its amending instruments continue to apply for the purposes of any investigation or legal proceedings relating to any acts or omissions which occurred before that date and constitute an offence under the 2000 Order (article 16). A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to this Order has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (“SPICe”). Copies can be obtained from Marine Scotland, 1B South, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH66QQ.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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