UK Offence Report

A person who fails to comply with any provision of regulation 5 above is guilty of an offence and liable– a…

regulation 8(1) of The Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Intra–Community Trade) 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 A person who fails to comply with any provision of regulation

5 above 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.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 8(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with any provision of regulation 5 above.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Intra–Community Trade) Regulations 1993, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
4 September 1993
In force from
6 October 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 implement Council Directive 92/109/EEC (on the manufacture and the placing on the market of certain substances used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) “the Community Directive”). The Community Directive provides, in Article 2, for the documentation and labelling of scheduled substances (substances useful for the manufacture of controlled drugs). Article 4 of the Community Directive requires that each member State ensures that those who manufacture certain scheduled substances or place them on the market within the European Community obtain licences to do so, and that such substances are supplied only to those specifically authorised to be supplied with them. Article 6 of the Community Directive requires member States to adopt within the framework of their domestic law the measures necessary to enable the competent authorities in each such State to obtain information on any orders for or operations involving scheduled substances and to enter operators' business premises to obtain evidence of irregularities. This is in order to ensure the correct application of Articles 2 and 4. Article 8 of the Community Directive requires member States to determine the penalties to be applied for infringement of the provisions of the Community Directive. The Community Directive applies only to manufacture and trade in scheduled substances which occurs within the European Community. It is therefore complementary to Council Regulation (EEC) 3677/90 (“the Council Regulation”) which deals principally with the exportation of such substances from, and their importation to, the Community. The Council Regulation was implemented by the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/1285, amended by S.I. 1992/2914). These Regulations treat the provisions in the Community Directive on the documentation and labelling of scheduled substances as if they were requirements of regulations made under section 13(1) of the Criminal Justice (International Co– operation) Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”). Section 23 of the 1990 Act provides for rights of entry and search of premises in order to investigate suspected breaches of regulations made under section 13(1) of that Act. The 1990 Act also provides for breaches of such regulations, although the penalties for breaches of these Regulations are in certain respects lower than those provided for under the 1990 Act. These Regulations also provide for the grant of licences in accordance with the Community Directive. A person who manufactures a scheduled substance listed in Category 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations, or places it on the market within the European Community, without a licence to do so is subject to the same enforcement powers and penalties as those outlined above. The same applies to a person who supplies such a substance to a person not authorised to be supplied with it. The list of scheduled substances in Schedule 1 to these Regulations does not include a number of the substances listed in the Annex to the Council Regulation (and in Schedule 2 to the Criminal Justice (International Co–operation) Act 1990, as modified by S.I. 1992/ 2873, under which certain statutory controls are imposed). This is because these Regulations do not impose controls on those substances.

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 0.92.

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