UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010

article 2(3) of The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Incidental Provision and Commencement No. 4) Order 2013

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

3 After section

8 insert— Prohibition of vending machines for the sale of tobacco products 9

1 A person who has the management or control of premises on which

a vending machine is available for use commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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 article 2(3)?

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 has the management or control of premises on which a vending machine is available for use.
  2. Selling the goods under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Incidental Provision and Commencement No. 4) Order 2013 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
19 March 2013
In force from
Not determined
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 brings section 9 of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) into force on 29th April 2013 (article 3). Section 9 makes it an offence for a person who has the management or control of premises to have an automatic vending machine for the sale of tobacco products available for use. Article 2 of the Order repeals section 9 and re-enacts it in identical terms. This provision is required as a procedural step incidental to the commencement of section 9 to comply with the requirements of the notification procedure under Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No.L204, 21.7.98, p.37) as amended by Directive98/48/EC of the same institutions (OJNo.L217, 5.8.98, p.18), which lays down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (the technical standards Directive) so that section 9 is brought into force with full effect. Article 2 of the Order was notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with the technical standards Directive (Notification No. 2010/699/UK on 28th October 2010). The Bill for the 2010 Act received Royal Assent on 3rd March 2010. Sections 40, 41, 42 and 43 of the 2010 Act came into force on Royal Assent. The commencement of section 41 which gives effect to schedule 2 to the 2010 Act (Minor and Consequential Modifications) must be read subject to the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Ancillary Provisions) Order 2010 (S.S.I. 2010/77) (“the Ancillary Order”). It provides that the modifications in that schedule shall not take effect until the coming into force for all purposes of specified sections of the 2010 Act. Article 2 of the Ancillary Order specifies that the modification in paragraph 2(a) of schedule 2 to the 2010 Act as it relates to section 4 of the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 has effect on the coming into force for all purposes of section 9 of the 2010 Act. Section 4 of the 1991 Act (Display of warning statements in retail premises and on vending machines) is therefore repealed on the coming into force of section 9. Article 4 of the Order revokes articles 3 and 4 of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Commencement No. 1, Consequential and Saving Provisions) Order 2010 and the Order which amended article 4 of that Order. These articles made provision in relation to the legislation regulating tobacco vending machines. In view of the commencement of section 9 they are no longer required. On 6th April 2015 (when section 1 of the 2010 Act comes into force for all purposes) all of the sections specified in the Ancillary Order will be in force for all purposes. It is therefore revoked with effect from that date.

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 “commits 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