UK Offence Report

Obstruction etc.

article 10 of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

10 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on him by virtue of article 6, 7 or 8 of this Order; b without reasonable excuse prevents any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c intentionally obstructs any such officer who is exercising any of those powers, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

10 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on him by virtue of article 6, 7 or 8 of this Order; b without reasonable excuse prevents any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c intent

What would breach article 10?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1994.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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 Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) (Wales) Order 2000 (revoked)
Revoked on
1 April 2000
Made
28 February 1994
In force from
22 March 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1993. It re-enacts those Community provisions relating to logbooks, actions to facilitate boarding, provision of boarding ladder and use of communications equipment and operator thereof (articles 3 and 4 of, and paragraphs 1 to 4 of the Schedule to, the Order). Additional provisions, set out in the Schedule to the Order, which provide for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EEC) 2847/93 (“the Council Regulation”) establishing a control system applicable to the Common Fisheries Policy are— 1 requirements for Community fishing boats to give at least two hours advance notice of time and place of landing and quantities of species to be landed (Article 7 of the Council Regulation); 2 requirement to submit landing declaration (Article 8.1 of the Council Regulation); 3 requirement to submit sales note by the first seller or buyer (Article 9 of the Council Regulation); 4 requirement for third country fishing boats to give at least 72 hours advance notice of time and place of landing (Article 10.1 of the Council Regulation); 5 requirement to notify details of trans-shipments (Articles 11 and 12 of the Council Regulation); 6 requirement on the transporter carrying fisheries products in a vehicle to provide a transportation document (Article 13 of the Council Regulation); 7 requirement to keep logbooks, submit landing declarations and details of trans-shipments of catches outside Community waters (Article 17.2 of the Council Regulation); 8 requirement to stow nets (Article 20.1 of the Council Regulation); 9 prohibitions which apply on exhaustion of quota (Article 21 of the Council Regulation). Offences for contravention of these Community provisions are to be found in articles 3 and 4 of, and paragraph 5 of the Schedule to, the Order. For the purpose of enforcing the Community provisions specified in the Schedule, this Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Order). Provision is also made for the prosecution of offenders and for the punishment of anyone found guilty of furnishing false information or obstructing a British sea-fishery officer (articles 3(1) and (2) and 10 of the Order). The maximum penalties specified for such offences, and for offences relating to the Community provisions specified in the Schedule correspond, in the case of offences equivalent to those under the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 (c. 84), and the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 (c. 77), both as amended by the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29), to the penalties imposed for such offences by those Acts (articles 4 and 10 of the Order). The statutory maximum penalty specified in the Schedule is currently £5,000. The Order provides powers for the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrates' court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, or in Scotland by a sheriff (article 5 of the Order). The Compliance Cost Assessment relating to this Order is available in the library of each House of Parliament. A copy of it can be obtained from Fisheries IV Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Room 432, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

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