UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 12 of The Organic Farming (Aid) Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

12 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person any aid, knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement which is false in

a material particular, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

What would breach regulation 12?

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 Organic Farming (Aid) Regulations 1994.
  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
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1994-07-22); 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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Organic Products (Wales) Regulations 2002
Revoked on
31 December 2002
Made
29 June 1994
In force from
22 July 1994
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 apply to England and Wales and make provision for the paymentof aid to farmers who undertake to introduce organic farming methods, pursuant toArticle 2(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p.85). The Regulations— a enable the Minister to make payments of aid, limited to 300 hectares per holding and subject to specified restrictions, to applicants satisfying the conditions of and applying in accordance with the regulations and specify the rate of aid (regulation 3); b specify the conditions of eligibility to be satisfied by applicants for aid (regulation 4); c specify the requirements in relation to applications for aid and the documents to accompany such applications (regulation 5); d require the Minister to notify applicants of the acceptance of applications and other specified details (regulation 6); e specify restrictions on the acceptance of applications by the Minister (regulation 7); f make provision for payment of aid to a new occupant where there has been a change in the occupation of a holding or part of a holding due to the death of a beneficiary or otherwise (regulation 8); g specify that payment of aid will be made in arrear (regulation 9); h require an applicant to permit an authorised person to enter premises and inspect premises, documents and records and to give reasonable assistance to the authorised person (regulation 10); i specify circumstances in which the Minister may withhold aid or recover payments already made (regulation 11); and j create the making of a false statement an offence and make provision for dealing with offences committed by corporations (regulations 12 and 13). The UKROFS standards are published and copies are obtainable from the Office of the Secretary to UKROFS, Room 320(c), Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

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