UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

article 5(1) of The Plant Health (Export Certification) (Scotland) Order 2018

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 commits an offence if, for the purposes of procuring the issue of

a certificate or IPC document under this Order, that person—

a knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false or misleading in any material particular; or

b intentionally fails to disclose any material information,

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach article 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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Plant Health (Export Certification) (Scotland) Order 2018.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
25 April 2018
In force from
1 June 2018
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision for the issue of phytosanitary certificates and phytosanitary certificates for re-export and for the provision of related services for the export of plants, plant products or other objects to third countries. It revokes and replaces the Plant Health (Export Certification) (Scotland) Order 2004 (S.S.I. 2004/248, as amended by S.S.I. 2007/137). Phytosanitary certificates, phytosanitary certificates for re-export and IPC documents are required to accompany exports of certain plants, plant products or other objects to third countries. The Order prescribes fees for the issue of these certificates and for related services (article 4 and the schedule). The Order authorises an inspector to enter any premises for the purpose of carrying out examinations or inquiries under the Order (article 3(3)). Provision is made in the Order for offences in relation to procuring the issue of a phytosanitary certificates, phytosanitary certificates or IPC documents for re-export (article 5). The fees prescribed by this Order are necessary to recover the costs expected to be incurred in the provision of the export services. A partial business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for this Order and has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Scottish Government, Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD or at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/12/2001/348911. This table provides a comparison of changes to the fees previously set out in schedule 1 of the Plant Health (Export Certification) (Scotland) Order 2004 and now revised in the schedule to this Order (where the fees are equivalent): No. Service New Fee Previous Fee 1 Issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of grain. £25.00 £45.00 Pre-export laboratory testing of grain. £70.00 per hour or any part thereof - 2 Pre-planting testing for the presence of potato cyst nematodes of one soil sample from a field, or part thereof, comprising not more than 4 hectares, or from a glass-house or container. £40.00 £69.00 3 Pre-export inspection of, and issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of, a consignment of bulbs (where the value of the consignment is more than £250.00), malt barley or oil seed rape, where an inspection at the premises of the grower is necessary. £70.00 - Issue of a second or subsequent phytosanitary certificate for the export of such a consignment, where no additional inspection is required. £25.00 - Pre-export laboratory testing for malt barley or oil seed rape. £70.00 per hour or any part thereof - 4 Pre-export inspection of, and the issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of, a consignment of bulbs, ware potatoes, other plants or plant products (other than those mentioned in another entry of this table), where an inspection at the premises of the grower is necessary— where the value of the consignment is where the value of the consignment is less than or equal to £250.00; £40.00 - where the value of the consignment is more than £250.00. £70.00 - Issue of a second or subsequent phytosanitary certificate for the export of a consignment of equal or lesser value to that mentioned in paragraph (a) of this entry, where an inspection is carried out at the same location on the same day. £25.00 £11.00 5 Pre-export inspection of, and the issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of, used agricultural machinery to ensure that any machinery is free of any trace of soil or plant debris. £70.00 £62.00 Issue of a second or subsequent phytosanitary certificate for the export of used agricultural machinery to ensure that any machinery is free of any trace of soil or plant debris. £25.00 £11.00 6 Pre-export inspection of, and the issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of, a consignment of bulbs, plants and plant products (other than seeds) delivered to the Scottish Government or for botanical research. £35.00 - 7 Issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of a consignment containing plant products which are either dried, frozen or processed. £25.00 £17.00 8 Pre-export consignment testing of one soil sample for the presence of potato cyst nematodes and the issue of a phytosanitary certificate for the export of seed potatoes where such testing is necessary. £40.00 £30.50 9 Growing season inspection of— outdoor plants: first 0.5 hectares, or part thereof; £40.00 per day - each additional 0.1 hectare, or part thereof, inspected on the same day as those under (i); £5.00 - for indoor plants: first 5,000 or part thereof; £40.00 per day £45.00 each additional 1,000, or part thereof, up to a maximum of 70,000 per day, inspected on the same day as those under (i); £5.00 - for bulbs: first 0.5 hectares or part thereof; £40.00 per day £45.00 each additional 0.1 hectare, or part thereof, inspected on the same day as those under (i). £5.00 - 10 Pre-export testing of potato tuber samples— for potato brown rot and ring rot: brown rot visual test; £55.00 £45.00 brown rot latent test; £158.00 £135.00 ring rot latent test; £158.00 £135.00 combined brown rot and ring rot latent test; £170.00 £140.00 for gangrene; £95.00 £62.10 for potato viruses: growing on test (200 tubers tested for 2 viruses); £240.00 £220.00 growing on test (each additional 50 tubers or part thereof tested for 2 viruses); £60.00 £55.00 testing for additional viruses (200 tubers); £20.00 (per virus) £10.00 (per virus) testing for additional viruses (each additional 50 tubers or part thereof); £5.00 (per virus) £2.50 (per virus) direct tuber test (200 tubers tested for 2 viruses); £270.00 £260.00 direct tuber test (each additional 50 tubers or part thereof); £63.00 (per virus) £65.00 (per virus) testing for additional viruses (200 tubers); £20.00 (per virus) £10.00 (per virus) testing for additional viruses (each additional 50 tubers or part thereof); £5.00 (per virus) £5.00 (per virus) leaf sample test (100 leaves tested for 4 viruses); £155.00 £45.00 leaf sample test (each additional 50 leaves or part thereof tested for 4 viruses); £78.00 £22.50 testing for additional viruses (100 leaves); £10.00 (per virus) £1.50 (per virus) testing for additional viruses (each additional 50 leaves or part thereof). £5.00 (per virus) £3.00 (per virus) 11 Pre-export testing for potato spindle tuber viroid. £50.00 per hour or any part thereof £51.93 (per hour) 12 Any other pre-export laboratory testing, other than seed testing or testing of the commodities listed in entries 1(a) and 3(a) of this table. £45.00 per hour or any part thereof £40.64 (per hour) 13 Growing crop inspection and pre-export seed testing work and the issue of a phytosanitary certificate in respect of seed samples. £70.00 per hour or any part thereof £69.00 (per hour or any part thereof) 14 Issue of an IPC document. £25.00 - 15 Issue of a phytosanitary certificate for re-export or a duplicate phytosanitary certificate or a phytosanitary certificate for re-export where the original has been lost, stolen, destroyed or materially damaged. £15.00 £5.00 16 Amending a certificate at the request of the exporter after issue. £15.00 -

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 “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