UK Offence Report

1 A person who fails to comply with a consumer information requirement commits an offence and is liable on…

regulation 5(1) of The Fish Labelling (Scotland) Regulations 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

1 A person who fails to comply with

a consumer information requirement commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 5(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with a consumer information requirement.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Fish Labelling (Scotland) Regulations 2013 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
4 September 2013
In force from
5 October 2013
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 enforce, in Scotland, the consumer information requirements of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2065/2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 as regards informing consumers about fishery and aquaculture products. They also enforce the traceability requirements of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy. References in these Regulations to certain EU instruments, which are defined in regulation 2(2), are references to those instruments as amended from time to time (regulation 2(1)(a)). The Regulations set out the consumer information requirements and the traceability requirements (regulation 3) and obligations to keep and produce certain records of information (regulation 4). They provide that it is an offence to: fail to comply with consumer information requirements and traceability requirements (regulation 5(1) and (2)); fail to keep or produce certain records (regulation 5(3)); and fail to comply with certain marketing requirements (regulation 5(4)). They provide for fines on summary conviction on the standard scale of up to level 5 for an offence under regulation 5(1) and up to level 3 for an offence under regulation 5(2), (3) or (4). The Regulations provide for food authorities to execute and enforce these Regulations, and to be the competent authority for specified purposes (regulation 6). They provide for certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 to be applied, and in some cases modified, for the purposes of these Regulations (regulation 7). Regulation 8 revokes the Fish Labelling (Scotland) Regulations 2010. A partial business regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency (Scotland), 6th Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen AB11 6NJ and online at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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