UK Offence Report

Penalties and enforcement

regulation 9(1) of The Egg Products Regulations 1993

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

1 If any person contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 3(1), (2), (3) and (5), 4, 5(1) or 7(1), (3) and (4), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale in the case of regulations 3, 4(a), (b) and (c), 5 and 7; b on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both in the case of regulations 3, 5 and 7 and to a fine in the case of regulation 4(a).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Egg Products Regulations 1993, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1993-07-14); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
10 June 1993
In force from
14 July 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 revoke the Liquid Egg (Pasteurisation) Regulations 1963 and the Liquid Egg (Pasteurisation) (Scotland) Regulations 1963 and implement in part Council Directive 89/437/EEC (OJ No. L212, 22.7.89, p.87) as amended by Council Directive 89/662/EEC (OJ No. L395, 30.12.89, p.13) and Council Directive 91/684/EEC (OJ No. L376, 31.12.91, p.38) (collectively referred to as “the Directive”) on hygiene and health problems affecting the production and placing on the market of egg products. In general the Regulations make provision in Great Britain for the preparation and manufacture of egg products used in food intended for sale for human consumption, including the process of pasteurisation, and prohibit the manufacture of egg products otherwise than in an approved establishment. The Regulations require egg products sold or used in the preparation of food to comply with specified requirements as to heat treatment, sampling, storage and transport (regulation 3; articles 3 and 11 of the Directive). A record must be kept of results of heat treatment tests applied to egg products (regulation 4; article 4 of the Directive). On and after 14th October 1993 the manufacture and heat treatment of egg products for the purpose of sale for human consumption may be carried out only at an establishment approved by a food authority (regulation 5; articles 4 and 6 of the Directive). Each food authority is responsible for establishments which it has approved (regulation 8). Only the Minister can revoke any approval granted by a food authority (regulation 6). The Regulations also require egg products which are moved between approved establishments to be properly stored, transported and labelled (regulation 7) and make provision for penalties and enforcement by each food authority within its area (regulation 9). Information as to British Standards referred to in these Regulations can be obtained by post from the British Standards Institution at Milton Keynes or from any of the Institution’s sales outlets.

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