UK Offence Report

In this regulation, “export” (except where it occurs in paragraph (4) above) and “scheduled substance” have…

regulation 5 of The Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Amendment) Regulations 1992

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

5 In this regulation, “export” (except where it occurs in paragraph (4) above) and “scheduled substance” have the same meanings as in the Community Regulation, and in Articles 4,

5 and 5a of the Community Regulation the words “the competent authorities” shall be taken as

a reference to the Secretary of State. 5B An operator who fails to comply with any of the requirements imposed by Article 2a of the Community Regulation is guilty of an offence and liable:

a on summary conviction, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

3 months or

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;

b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years or

a fine or both. 5C

1 An operator who fails to comply with any of the requirements imposed by virtue of regulation 5A above is guilty of an offence and liable to the same penalties as an operator who is guilty of an offence under regulation 5B above.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 operator
Conduct
making a false or misleading statement
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 (recklessly) - 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: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses recklessly - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach regulation 5?

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. On these words an offence is committed where an operator fails to comply with any of the requirements imposed by Article 2a of the Community Regulation.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Amendment) Regulations 1992.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
19 November 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
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.

The principal purpose of these Regulations is to implement the amendments made to Council Regulation (EEC)3677/90 (“the Community Regulation”) by Council Regulation (EEC) 900/92. The Community Regulation, as amended, includes provision requiring operators concerned in the export of scheduled substances (substances useful for the manufacture of controlled drugs) to obtain export authorisations in respect of such exports. The Community Regulation, by Article 6, requires Member States to adopt within the framework of their domestic law the measures necessary to enable the competent authorities (in the United Kingdom, this phrase refers to the Secretary of State) to obtain information on any orders for or orders involving scheduled substances and to enter operators' business premises in order to obtain evidence of irregularities. It also requires Member States to determine the penalties to be applied for infringement of the provisions of the Community Regulation. These Regulations amend the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/1285). They provide that failure to obtain the requisite export authorisation (under Articles 4, 5 and 5a of the Community Regulation) constitutes an offence and set out the penalties applicable to such an offence. They also provide that the power conferred under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to enter and search premises in order to investigate suspected offences under that Act shall also be exercisable for the purposes of the execution of Articles 4, 5 and 5a of the Community Regulation.

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 0.96.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; c10_offence_under_parent_act
Confidence
0.96 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