a shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400, and

regulation 4(a) of The Medicines (Fluted Bottles) Regulations 1978

• 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

a shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding £400, and

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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(a)?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Medicines (Fluted Bottles) Regulations 1978.

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

16 January 1978

In force from

1 February 1978

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 made under the Medicines Act 1968 impose a prohibition upon the sale or supply of certain medicinal products for external use except in bottles which are recognisable by touch. The Regulations, which contain exceptions and criminal offences, are made for the purpose of promoting safety in, and ready identification of, medicinal products. They supersede Rule 26 of the Poisons Rules.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

• Any person who contravenes these regulations or who contravenes the provisions of section 87(2) of the Act…regulation 4
• b shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two…regulation 4(b)

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; the provision states a penalty in older drafting

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 (Fluted Bottles) Regulations 1978 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Drugs and medicinesOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1978