UK Offence Report

3 A person shall be guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of procuring the authority to issue a plant…

article 33(3) of The Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993 (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

3 A person shall be guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of procuring the authority to issue a plant passport or a replacement plant passport, or obtaining the issue of a phytosanitary certificate, a reforwarding phytosanitary certificate or a licence under this Order, he— a makes a statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, b recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular, or c intentionally fails to disclose any material information.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (intentionally, 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: intentionally, recklessly.

What would breach article 33(3)?

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 Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
20 May 1993
In force from
1 June 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order, which applies to Great Britain, revokes and supersedes the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987 and implements Council Directive 77/93/EEC (as amended and supplemented by the instruments listed in Schedule 16) on protective measures against the introduction into Member States of the European Community of organisms harmful to plants and plant products and against their spread within the Community. The Order— a prohibits the landing of certain plant pests and specifies the conditions under which landing of various plants, plant products and other objects may be permitted (article 3); b makes provision against the spread of plant pests within the European Community (article 4); c prohibits the introduction into protected zones of certain plant pests, plants, plant products and other objects and specifies the conditions under which other such items may be introduced (article 5); d prohibits the keeping, sale, planting, movement or other disposal of certain plants, plant products and other objects in protected zones and specifies the conditions under which other such items may be kept, sold, planted, moved or otherwise disposed of in protected zones (articles 6 and 7); e requires that certain plants, plant products and other objects being moved within the European Community be accompanied by a plant passport or phytosanitary certificate (articles 9 to 14); f provides for the establishment of a register of those involved in activities associated with plants, plant products and other objects (articles 15 to 17); g lays down various provisions relating to potatoes and certain citrus fruit (articles 18 and 19); h requires the notification of the presence of certain plant pests (articles 20 and 21); i enables an inspector to take precautionary or remedial action where items are or are likely to be landed in contravention of the Order or are likely to be present on premises (article 22); j enables an inspector to enter premises, to carry out examination and take samples, and to take remedial action where the requirements of a notice served under the Order have not been complied with (articles 23, 25 and 27); k requires an inspector to obtain a warrant from a justice of the peace or sheriff before entering a dwelling house (article 28); l provides that anything that is otherwise prohibited under the Order may be done under authority of a licence granted in exercise of any derogation permitted by Directive 77/93/EEC (article 30); m provides that officers of Customs and Excise may detain plant pests, plants, plant products and other objects for examination by an inspector (article 31); n enables an inspector or other officer to require information in respect of certain plant pests, plants, plant products and other objects (article 32); o provides that the contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provisions of the Order (other than those relating to landing) shall be an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding £5,000 (article 33). (Any person who lands articles in contravention of a prohibition imposed by this Order with intent to evade such prohibition is guilty of an offence under section 50(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2) and may be arrested. A person guilty of such an offence is liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty of £5,000 or of three times the value of the goods, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both; and, on conviction on indictment, to a penalty of any amount, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years, or to both).

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