UK Offence Report

13 Any person who– a fails to comply with articles 3, 6, 10(1) or 12 of this Order; or b fails to comply…

article 13 of The Soft Fruit Plants (Scotland) Order 1991

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

13 Any person who–

a fails to comply with articles 3, 6, 10(1) or

12 of this Order; or

b fails to comply with the terms of any notice served or licence issued under this Order; or

c obstructs any person in the exercise of his powers under this Order; or

d wilfully or negligently makes any statement for the purpose of this Order which is false in any material particular, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (wilfully) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: both a mens rea word and an objective standard appear in the offence itself.

What would breach article 13?

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 Soft Fruit Plants (Scotland) Order 1991.
  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
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Scotland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (CP(S)A 1995 s.225(2)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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 Soft Fruit Plants (Scotland) Revocation Order 1995
Revoked on
1 December 1995
Made
21 August 1991
In force from
13 September 1991
Extent
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order, which applies to Scotland only, revokes and supersedes the Sale of Strawberry Plants and Blackcurrant Bushes (Scotland) Order 1947. Article 3 prohibits the sale of strawberry plants, raspberry plants and blackcurrant bushes unless they are from stocks which have been certified to the effect that they have been inspected whilst growing and found to confirm to certain standards of purity and health or which have been approved by the Secretary of State. Article 4 and Schedules 1 to 4 provide for the certification of strawberry plants, raspberry plants and blackcurrant bushes and article 5 provides for the withdrawal of certificates in certain circumstances. Article 6 prohibits the planting of raspberry plants unless they are certified or approved stock. Article 7 confers powers of entry and sampling on an inspector. Article 8 makes provision for the issue of licences by the Secretary of State to meet exceptional cases. Article 9 and Schedule 5 prescribe the fees to be paid by every person to whom a certificate is issued. Article 10 provides for the treatment or destruction of plants sold or planted in contravention of the Order. Articles 11 and 12 provide for certain miscellaneous and ancillary matters. Article 13 creates offences for failing to comply with the terms of the Order punishable on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £2,000).

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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