UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 6(1) of The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995

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 regulation 4 (including any provision of Schedule 1) or 5, he shall be guilty of an offence against these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 6(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 Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995, 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
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
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
12 July 1995
In force from
15 September 1995
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 93/43/EEC of the 14th June 1993 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, except for the requirements of paragraphs 4 and 5 of Chapter IX of the Annex to that Directive (which relate to temperature controls) and for the requirements in that Directive which relate to imports which are likely to pose a serious risk to human health and which come from countries that are not of the European Community. They also implement the provisions of Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15th July 1980 relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (“the Water Quality Directive”) which relate to the use of water for food production purposes. Regulation 2 is an interpretation provision. Amongst other definitions, it includes a definition of “potable water” which sets the quality standard for water used for food production purposes. Regulation 3 deals with the application of regulations 4 and 5 of these Regulations: they apply to all stages of food production except primary production, but subject to certain exceptions they do not apply to the activities of food businesses which are regulated under the Regulations listed in regulation 3(2). The exceptions relate to circumstances where the listed Regulations make no alternative provision with respect to either the supply and use of potable water or the instruction or training of persons engaged in handling food at the business. Regulation 4 imposes various obligations on the proprietor of a food business. Regulation 4(1) requires him to ensure that specified operations are carried out in a hygienic way. Regulation 4(2) imposes obligations on him to comply with the rules of hygiene set out in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. Chapter I to III of Schedule 1 set out the requirements for food premises, rooms where food is prepared, treated or processed, temporary premises etc and vending machines. The rules of hygiene also cover transportation, requirements as to equipment, food waste, water supply and personal hygiene, provisions applicable to foodstuffs and training (Chapters IV to X respectively). Regulation 4(3) requires a proprietor of a food business to identify steps in the activities of the business which are critical to ensuring food safety and ensure that adequate safety procedures are identified, implemented, maintained and reviewed. Regulation 5 is a notification requirement for certain food handlers suffering from medical conditions if there is any likelihood of them directly or indirectly contaminating any food with pathogenic micro-organisms. Regulation 6 deals with offences and penalties; regulation 7 applies certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990; and regulation 8 deals with enforcement issues. Regulation 9 gives effect to Schedule 2, which contains a set of amendments to other Regulations which are necessary for the purpose of implementing the Water Quality Directive in so far as it relates to the use of water for food production purposes. Regulation 10 is a revocation provision. The provisions revoked are listed in schedule 3 to these Regulations. An assessment of the cost to business of complying with these Regulations has been prepared and copies may be obtained from the Department of Health, Room 630B, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1 6LW, or the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Room 347, Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh EH14 1TW. A copy has also been placed in the library of each of the Houses of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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