UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Tobacco Products Labelling (Safety) Regulations 1991

the instrument as a whole of The Tobacco Products Labelling (Safety) Regulations 1991

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Moving the goods across the border under the Tobacco Products Labelling (Safety) Regulations 1991 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
5 July 1991
In force from
1 October 1991
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 implement Council Directive 89/622/EEC concerning the labelling of tobacco products (OJ No. L359 8.12.89 p 1). The Regulations are made in exercise of powers contained in the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and in the European Communities Act 1972. The Regulations require a producer of tobacco products (“producer” is defined in regulation 2(1), and includes an importer) to ensure that each packet containing the tobacco product carries the specified general warning (regulation 3). In relation to cigarettes, producers are required to ensure that each packet carries one of six health warnings additional to the general warning (regulation 4). The additional health warnings are specified in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. Regulation 4 requires that these warnings should appear on an equal number of packets over the course of a year, with a 5 per cent. allowance made for variation above or below that number. Regulation 5 makes provision as to the visibility and position of the general warning and the additional warning for cigarettes; there is also a provision as to the size of the area to be covered by those warnings, and Schedule 2 to the Regulations shows how the area is to be measured. Regulation 6 requires the producer of cigarettes to ensure that each packet of cigarettes provides information as to the tar and nicotine yields of those cigarettes. The manner of determining the tar and nicotine yields and the presentation of the information on the packet is also specified. Regulation 7 specifies how information is to be presented on a non-rectangular packet. Regulation 8 provides that an importer of cigarettes from a member State of the EEC is to be treated as complying with specified requirements of the Regulations if the equivalent requirements of that member State, adopted to implement Council Directive 89/622/EEC, are met. To determine the accuracy of information about tar and nicotine yields carried on packets, the Secretary of State is empowered to select samples of and conduct tests on cigarettes; the methods of sampling and testing are specified in regulation 9(1). Regulation 9(2) requires the producer of cigarettes to supply samples as required by the Secretary of State and to notify the Secretary of State of certain information about cigarette brands produced by him. Regulation 10 specifies the procedure to be followed when the Secretary of State’s own tests show results different from those recorded in the information on the cigarette packets. The Regulations prohibit supplying, offering to supply, agreeing to supply, exposing for supply or possessing for supply any tobacco product in respect of which the producer has not complied with regulations 3 to 6 (regulation 11). Regulation 12 provides that the Regulations are to be regarded for the purposes of enforcement as safety regulations and safety provisions as defined in the Consumer Protection Act 1987, although they are made partly in exercise of other powers. Transitional provisions are provided for in regulation 13. Copies of the International Standards referred to in the Regulations may be obtained from the British Standards Institute, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6LE.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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