UK Offence Report

Provision of false or misleading information

regulation 40(1) of The Plant Health (Official Controls and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2019

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 obtaining an authorisation or

a permit or procuring the issue of

a plant passport or certificate, the person—

a knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement or representation which is false in

a material particular,

b knowingly or recklessly furnishes

a document or information which is false in

a material particular,

c 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 40(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 (Official Controls and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2019.
  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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
11 December 2019
In force from
14 December 2019
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 give effect in particular to— a Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament of the Council on protective measures against pests of plants, amending Regulations (EU) No 228/2013, (EU) No652/2014 and (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 69/464/EEC, 74/647/EEC, 93/85/EEC, 98/57/EC, 2000/29/EC, 2006/91/EC and 2007/33/EC, b Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No1/2005 and (EC) No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and repealing Regulations (EC) No854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council Decision 92/438/EEC, in so far as it applies to the rules referred to in Article 1(2)(g) of that Regulation. Part 1 contains introductory and interpretation provisions. Part 2 makes provision in connection with the designation of the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority responsible for the organisation and performance of official controls and other official activities in Scotland for plant health purposes. Part 3 makes provision in connection with official controls on imports of plants, plant products and other objects from third countries. Part 4 makes provision in connection with official activities to prevent the establishment or spread of plant pests. Part 5 makes provision in connection with temporary national measures, in addition to measures at the EU level, to prevent the entry of certain plant pests into Scotland, and their establishment within, and spread within, Scotland. Part 6 makes provision in connection with registration of professional operators and in connection with the grant or issue of authorisations, licences and certificates. Part 7 makes provision in connection with measures relating to certain solanaceous species, implementing in particular: Council Directive 69/464/EEC on control of Potato Wart Disease, Council Directive 93/85/EEC on the control of potato ring rot, Council Directive 98/57/EC on the control of Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al., Council Directive 2007/33/EC on the control of potato cyst nematodes and repealing Directive 69/465/EEC. Part 8 sets out notification requirements. Part 9 makes provision for general powers of inspectors and enforcement. Part 10 makes general provision in connection with notices given or served under the Regulations. Part 11 makes provision in connection with offences and penalties. Part 12 makes further miscellaneous provision, including consequential amendments to other secondary legislation, revocations of secondary legislation and transitional provisions. A partial business regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations 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.

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