UK Offence Report

Examination stations

regulation 22A(2) of The Customs Controls on Importation of Goods Regulations 1991 (revoked)

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

2 Any person contravening or failing to comply with any condition or restriction attaching to an approval by virtue of which

a part of, or place at,

a customs and excise airport is an examination station shall be liable on summary conviction to

a penalty of level

3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 22A(2)?

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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Customs Controls on Importation of Goods Regulations 1991, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£400
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 3 value when the instrument came into force (1992-01-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean £1000.

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
4 December 1991
In force from
1 January 1992
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.

From 1st January 1992 the customs procedure to be applied on the arrival of goods from places outside the EC will be governed by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4151/88 . From that date wharves, transit sheds and airport examination stations for the loading, unloading and storage of goods imported from outside the EC will be approved by the Commissioners directly under that regulation. These changes are reflected in the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 by a number of textual changes including amendments of the definitions, indexed in section 1, of “approved wharf”, “examination station”, “transit shed” and by the disapplication of certain provisions of statutory instruments to goods arriving from places outside the EC. Provisions so amended or disapplied will remain in force for the purposes of goods imported and exported between the United Kingdom and other member states of the EC and of goods exported from the United Kingdom to places outside the EC. Regulations 3, 4 and 5 lay down rules which supplement the procedure to be followed for presentation, summary declaration and entry of the goods. These provisions are in implementation of that Council Regulation and also Council Directive 79/695/EEC on the harmonisation of procedures for the release of goods for free circulation. The Regulations provide for penalties and forfeiture of the goods in the event of contravention of the procedures.

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 0.72.

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