UK Offence Report

11 If any person— a with intent to deceive produces, furnishes or sends for the purposes of the cereals…

regulation 11 of The Cereals Co-responsibility Levy Regulations 1988

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

11 If any person— a with intent to deceive produces, furnishes or sends for the purposes of the cereals co-responsibility levy legislation or otherwise makes use for those purposes of any document which is false in a material particular, b in furnishing any information for the purposes of the cereals co-responsibility levy legislation, knowingly or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular, c fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed on him by or under— i regulation 5, 6 or 7, or ii Article 4 or 6 of the Commission Regulation (which provide for the payment of levy and the forwarding of declarations and for the keeping and production of accounts), or d intentionally obstructs an authorised officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred on him by regulations 7 or 8, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2000.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an authorised officer
Conduct
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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, with intent to).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, with intent to, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

statement which is false in a material particular, c fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed on him by or under— i regulation 5, 6 or 7, or ii Article 4 or 6 of the Commission Regulation (which provide for the payment of levy and the forwarding of declarations and for the keeping and production of accounts), or d

What would breach regulation 11?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Cereals Co-responsibility Levy Regulations 1988.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

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
Status not determined
Made
8 June 1988
In force from
1 July 1988
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, which apply to the United Kingdom, supersede the Cereals Co-responsibility Levy Regulations 1986. They provide for the adminstration, collection and enforcement of co-responsibility levy imposed in respect of specified cereals by Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) 2727/75 (OJ No. L281, 1.11.1975, p.1), as amended in particular by Council Regulation (EEC) 1079/88 (OJ No. L110, 29.4.88, p.7). Detailed rules for the application of the levy have been laid down by Commission Regulation (EEC) 1432/88 (OJ No. L131, 27.5.88, p.37) and come into force in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the cereals marketing year on 1st July 1988. By virtue of Article 4 of Regulation 2727/75 and Article 1 of Regulation 1432/88 co-responsibility levy is payable by producers on specified cereals which are produced in the Community and placed on the market or sold to an intervention agency. The levy is to be collected by traders as defined in regulation 2(1) of these Regulations. By virtue of Article 4(1) of Regulation 1432/88 levy collected in respect of transactions which take place between 1st July 1988 and 31st August 1988 must be paid by 30th September 1988. Thereafter levy is payable in respect of transactions taking place within a three-month period and payment must be made by the end of the month following that period. In implementation of these provisions, these Regulations— a require traders to furnish specified particulars to the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce for entry in a register and make provision for inspection of these particulars (regulations 4 and 5); b require the supply of information by seed merchants and by persons engaged in the business of purchasing, processing or selling cereals and the production of records by traders and the production of documents by persons engaged by way of business in the production, transport, storage, processing or sale of cereals (regulations 6 and 7); c provide for powers of entry, for authorised officers' warrants and for offences (regulations 8, 9 and 11); d provide for the recovery by the Intervention Board of cereals co-responsibility levy (regulation 10). In the United Kingdom co-responsibility levy will be collected by the Home-Grown Cereals Authority on behalf of the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of 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