UK Offence Report

8 Any person who contravenes the provisions of regulation 4 or 6 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be…

regulation 8 of The Footwear (Indication of Composition) Labelling 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

8 Any person who contravenes the provisions of regulation 4 or 6 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; b 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 8?

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 contravenes the provisions of regulation 4 or 6.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Footwear (Indication of Composition) Labelling Regulations 1995, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1996-03-23); 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
20 September 1995
In force from
23 March 1996
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.

(This note does not form part of the Regulations) These Regulations implement European Parliament and Council Directive 94/11/EC (O.J. No. L100, 19.4.94, p.37) on the labelling of materials used in the main components of footwear for sale to the consumer. The Regulations require “responsible persons” as defined in regulation 2(1) to ensure that footwear placed on the market shall comply with certain labelling requirements (regulation 4). Labelling, which shall be conveyed upon the footwear, shall provide information as to the material which constitutes at least 80% of the surface area of the upper, at least 80% of the surface area of the lining and sock and at least 80% of the volume of the outer sole of the footwear. The information may be provided by way of pictogram or written indication (regulation 5). Retailers must ensure that footwear is labelled in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations and that consumers are informed of the meaning of the pictograms (regulation 6). Criminal penalties are provided for breach of regulation 4 or 6. The Regulations make provision for enforcement including service of compliance notices. A compliance cost assessment is available, copies of which have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are also available from the Consumer Affairs Division of the Department of Trade and Industry, Room 4.R.11, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

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