UK Offence Report

Offences and penalty

regulation 6(1) of The Spreadable Fats (Marketing Standards) 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 or fails to comply with—

a regulation

4 of these Regulations, or

b any Community provision, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 Spreadable Fats (Marketing Standards) 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
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 (1996-01-01); 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
30 November 1995
In force from
1 January 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.

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, make provision for the enforcement and execution of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2991/94 (OJ No. L316, 9.12.94, p.2) laying down standards for spreadable fats. In pursuance of Article 6 of that Regulation, the Regulations also re-enact requirements as to the vitamin content of margarine which were previously contained in the Margarine Regulations 1967 (S.I. 1967/1867), as amended, and the Margarine (Scotland) Regulations 1970 (S.I. 1970/1286), as amended, (regulation 4), subject to an exemption (regulation 3(2)). These Regulations— a specify the authorities which are to enforce and execute these Regulations and the provisions of the Council Regulation referred to in column 1 (and briefly described in column 2) of Schedule 1 (regulation 5); b create offences and prescribe a penalty (regulation 6) and contain a limited exemption in respect of any spreadable fat to which the EEA Agreement applies and which is brought into Great Britain from an EEA State other than a member State (regulation 3(1)); c provide a defence in relation to exports, in implementation of Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EEC (OJ No. L186, 30.6.89, p.23) on the official control of foodstuffs, as read with the ninth recital to that Directive (regulation 7); d incorporate specified provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 8); e revoke the Regulations specified in Schedule 2 to the extent specified in that Schedule (regulation 9). Article 11(2) of the Council Regulation provides that, notwithstanding Article 2(1), products on the market of a member State on 31st December 1995 which do not meet the requirements specified may be supplied or transferred until 31st December 1997. A compliance cost assessment of the effect that this instrument would have on the cost of business is available from: Food Labelling and Standards Division Branch B Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Room 325B Ergon 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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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