UK Offence Report

Offences and enforcement

regulation 9(1) of Aflatoxins in Nuts, Nut Products, Dried Figs and Dried Fig Products Regulations 1992

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 Any person who— a imports a consignment of nuts, nut products, dried figs and dried fig products or any of them in contravention of any requirement imposed by or under these Regulations or sells any nut, nut product, dried fig or dried fig product from a consignment that has been so imported, or b makes a consumer sale of any nut, nut product, dried fig, dried fig product or any of them in contravention of any requirement imposed by or under these Regulations, or c in dealing with a consignment of nuts, nut products, dried figs and dried fig products or any of them, does not do so in accordance with a requirement imposed by or under these Regulations in relation to such dealing, or d uses a document which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes a statement or uses a document which is false in a material particular in connection with the importation of a consignment of nuts, nut products, dried figs, dried fig products or any of them, or e uses a document which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes a statement or uses a document which is false in a material particular in connection with the consumer sale of nuts, nut products, dried figs, dried fig products or any of them, shall be guilty of an offence and liable— i on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or ii on conviction on indictment to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (recklessly).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly.

What would breach regulation 9(1)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Aflatoxins in Nuts, Nut Products, Dried Figs and Dried Fig Products Regulations 1992.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. 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)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Contaminants in Food (Amendment) Regulations 1999
Revoked on
30 June 1999
Made
16 December 1992
In force from
31 December 1992
Extent
Not stated

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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, come into force on 31st December 1992. The Regulations prohibit the import of any nuts, nut products, dried figs or dried fig products other than from a country within the European Economic Community except throμgh an authorised place of entry and in accordance with a procedure which requires that they be presented for sampling and analysis for aflatoxins (regulations 5 and 6 and Schedule 3). Detailed requirements for such sampling and analysis are given in Schedule 4. The Regulations further prohibit the consumer sale of any nuts, nut products, dried figs or dried fig products which have a level of aflatoxins of more than 4 micrograms per kilogram of the food in question (regulation 7).

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
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