UK Offence Report

The Eggs and Chicks (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2008

regulation 15 of The Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Modifications) and Agricultural Products, Aquatic Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

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

15 In the Eggs and Chicks (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2008, in Schedule 2 (retained EU provisions relating to eggs in shell for consumption contravention of which is an offence), in Part 1, in the table, omit the ninth and tenth rows (Articles 75(2) and (3) or Council Regulation 2013).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 15?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 (Consequential Modifications) and Agricultural Products, Aquatic Animal Health and Genetically Modified Organisms (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
6 December 2022
In force from
2 February 2023
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations are made in part in exercise of the powers conferred by paragraphs 1(1) and (3) and 11M(1) of schedule 2 and paragraph 21(b) of schedule 7 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c.16) (“the 2018 Act”). These Regulations make amendments to retained direct EU legislation and EU derived domestic legislation in the fields of marketing standards for agricultural products, aquatic animal health and environmental protection. Regulations 2, 3(3) and (5), 6(3), (11)(a) and (b), 13, 14 and 16 of these Regulations make provision to address failures of retained EU law to operate effectively and other deficiencies arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and deal with matters arising out of, or related to, the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the EU withdrawal agreement. Regulation 2 amends Regulation (EC) 1234/2007 (“EUR 1234/2007”). EUR 1234/2007 was repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) 1308/2013 (“EUR 1308/2013”). However the provisions amended by regulation 2 continue to apply under article 230(1)(c) of EUR 1308/2013. The amendments replace references to “Member States” and “the Community” with appropriate domestic references, and omit redundant provisions. Regulation 3(3) and (5) amend Regulation (EC) 543/2008 to substitute reference to a Directive with corresponding domestic legislation, and to remove a redundant cross reference. Regulation 6(3) and (11)(a) and (b) omit references to redundant provisions in EUR 1308/2013. Regulation 13 amends the Hops Certification Regulations 1979 to omit regulation 3(1)(f), which is redundant due to provision made in the Internal Market Act 2020 (c.27) for the mutual recognition principle for goods. Regulation 14 amends the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 to implement the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the EU withdrawal agreement. Regulation 16 amends the Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (“the 2009 Regulations”). The amendments relate to the definition of the term “processing establishment” at regulation 3(1) of the 2009 Regulations, which cross-refers to Article 33 of Chapter V of Directive 2006/88/EC. The amendments ensure that, for the purposes of the definition of the term “processing establishment” in the 2009 Regulations, the reference in Article 33(1) of that Directive to “the competent authority” is understood to mean “the Scottish Ministers”. These Regulations otherwise make amendments consequential on sections 9 to 12 and the schedule of the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the 2020 Act”). The amendments omit cross references to articles EUR 1308/2013 which have been disapplied by the 2020 Act. These are replaced by cross references to retained direct minor EU legislation made under those disapplied articles, which continues to apply as provided by the 2020 Act, and to powers under the 2020 Act to make regulations about marketing standards. No business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations as no impact upon business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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