b shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years…

regulation 4(b) of The Medicines (Advertising of Medicinal Products) (No. 2) Regulations 1975

Status not determined
Strict liability
Either way
Drugs and medicines

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

b shall be liable on conviction on indictment to
a fine or to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding
2 years or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: breaching the provision
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 4(b)?

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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Medicines (Advertising of Medicinal Products) (No. 2) Regulations 1975.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £400
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment): 2 years

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.

Drug offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales
Covers importation, supply, production and possession of controlled drugs, with sentencing driven by drug class and the offender's role.
Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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 August 1975
In force from: 8 September 1975
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

These Regulations provide that particulars relating to medicinal products for human use in certain advertisements issued in professional publications are not to be inconsistent with the relevant data sheet and that such advertisements must contain a notice that a data sheet relating to the product advertised will be sent on request to any doctor or dentist. The regulations also provide that 3 copies of the data sheet must be sent or delivered to the licensing authority not more than 15 months before the issue of any such advertisements. Regulation 3 provides temporary relief from these requirements in certain circumstances and regulation 4 makes it an offence to contravene the regulations and imposes penalties.

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 0.72.

Basis: the provision states liability on summary conviction
Confidence: 0.72 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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Medicines (Advertising of Medicinal Products) (No. 2) Regulations 1975 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Drugs and medicinesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1975