UK Offence Report

Offences relating to the marketing of oil

regulation 4(3) of The Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1987

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 A person who sells by retail any oil other than oil referred to in points 1(a) and (b), 3 and 6 of the Annex to the Council Regulation in contravention of Article 35.2 of that Regulation (which provides that only oil satisfying certain definitions shall be marketed at the retail stage) as read with that Annex commits an offence under this regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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(3)?

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. Selling the goods under the Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1987 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Olive Oil (Marketing Standards) Regulations 2014
Made
6 October 1987
In force from
1 November 1987
Extent
E+W+S

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision for the enforcement of Article 35 of Regulation No. 136/66/EEC of the Council on the establishment of a common organisation of the market in oils and fats (“the Council Regulation”) (OJ No. 172, 30.8.66, p. 3025/66; OJ/SE 1965-66 p. 221) as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1915/87 (OJ No. L183, 3.7.87, p. 7). They apply in Great Britain and come into force on 1st November 1987. Article 35 of the Council Regulation makes the use of prescribed descriptions and definitions of olive oils and olive-pomace oils (formerly known as olive residue oils) compulsory for the pulses of trade, and prohibits the marketing by retail of certain categories of such oil. These descriptions and definitions are set out in the Annex to the Council Regulation. There are transitional measures (applicable until 31st December 1989) permitting the continued use of definitions and descriptions of olive oil and olive-pomace oil in use in Member States and allowing the expression “pure olive oil” to be used for exports of olive oil as defined in point 3 of the Annex to the Council Regulation. In implementation of Article 35 of the Council Regulation, these Regulations— a designate the authorities who are to enforce Article 35 of the Council Regulation (regulation 3); b prescribe offences and penalties for contravention of Article 35 of the Council Regulation, and provide for certain defences (regulations 4 and 6); c create powers of entry, inspection and sampling (regulation 5).

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