UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Milk and Dairies (Standardisation and Importation) (Scotland) Regulations 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Milk and Dairies (Standardisation and Importation) (Scotland) 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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990. 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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. Selling the goods under the Milk and Dairies (Standardisation and Importation) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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 sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990.

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
9 December 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.

These Regulations amend a number of Milk and Dairies Regulations in order to implement certain European Community requirements. They provide for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2138/92 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1411/71 as amended on the ending of the arrangements by which Member States have to choose between allowing the sale of standardised whole milk or non-standardised whole milk, but not both. Under Article 3(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1411/71, as amended, “whole milk” means milk which has been subjected to at least one heat treatment or authorised treatment of equivalent effect by a milk producer and with respect to fat content meets one of the following requirements:— a standardised whole milk, ie milk with a fat content of at least 3.5%; b non-standardised whole milk, ie milk with a fat content that has not been adjusted since the milking stage either by the addition or removal of milk fats or by mixture with milk, the natural fat content of which has been altered. However, the fat content may not be less than 3.5%. Under Article 3(2) of the Council Regulation (EEC) No 1411/71 as amended, in relation to the sale of whole milk, the name of the whole milk has to be followed by a further description to inform the purchaser whether the product has undergone the process of standardisation or not in all cases where omission of such information could create confusion in the mind of the purchaser. To give effect to the above, the Regulations make the following principal changes— a restrictions on import and sale of standardised whole milk are removed from the Drinking Milk (Scotland) Regulation 1976 (regulation 3), the Importation of Milk (Scotland) Regulations 1988 (regulation 5), the Milk (Special Designations) (Scotland) Order 1988 (regulation 6), the Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Regulations 1990 (regulation 7) and the Milk Bottles (Labelling and Cap Colour) (Scotland) Order 1976 (regulation 2); b in relation to the sale of whole milk, provision is made for labelling in the Milk Labelling (Scotland) Regulations 1983 (regulation 4). Provision is made in the Regulations for the implementation in part of Council Directive 89/662 as amended (O.J. No. L395 30.12.89, p.13) on veterinary checks in intra-Community trade by removing part of entry checks on imports of milk coming from other Member States in the Importation of Milk (Scotland) Regulations 1988 (regulation 5). The Regulations also provide for the removal of the ban on imports of raw cow’s milk and thermised cow’s milk (milk subjected to heat treatment below pasteurisation temperature) coming from other Member States. Such milk will be permitted entry provided it is accompanied by a certificate indicating that it has met certain production requirements (regulation 5).

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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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