UK Offence Report

Condemnation of food

regulation 6 of The Sweeteners in Food 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

6 Where any food is certified by

a food analyst as being food which it is an offence against these Regulations to sell, that food may be treated for the purposes of section

9 of the Act (under which food may be seized and destroyed on the order of

a justice of the peace) as failing to comply with food safety requirements, and section 8(3) shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations as it applies for the purposes of the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

8 In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove— a that the food or, as the case may be, sweetener in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export to a country which has legislation analogous to these Regulations and that such food or sweetener complies with that l

What would breach regulation 6?

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. Selling the goods under the Sweeteners in Food Regulations 1995 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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
3 December 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, come into force on 1st January 1996. The Regulations implement European Parliament and Council Directive 94/35/EC (OJ No. L237, 10.9.94, p.3) on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs (which has to be read with Council Directive 89/107/EEC (OJ No. L40, 11.2.89, p.27) on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning food additives authorised for use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption) and Commission Directive 95/31/EC (OJ No. L178, 28.7.95, p.1) laying down specific criteria of purity concerning sweeteners for use in foodstuffs. The principal provisions of the Regulations— 1 prohibit the sale of any sweetener intended either for sale to the ultimate consumer or for use in or on any food, other than a permitted sweetener (regulation 3(1)); 2 prohibit the use of any sweetener in or on any food, other than for certain foods in which only specified permitted sweeteners may be used in accordance with conditions contained in the Regulations (regulation 3(2) and (3) and Schedule 1); 3 prohibit the use of any sweetener in or on foods for infants and young children specified in Council Directive 89/398/EEC (OJ No. L186, 30.6.89, p.27) on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses (regulation 3(4)); 4 prohibit the sale of table-top sweeteners unless they contain no sweetener other than a permitted sweetener and are labelled in accordance with the Regulations (regulation 4); 5 prohibit the sale of any food containing any added sweetener other than a permitted sweetener used in or on it in accordance with the Regulations (regulation 5). The Regulations also— a make provision in relation to the condemnation of food (regulation 6); b create offences, prescribe a penalty and provide for the Regulations to be enforced by food authorities (regulation 7); 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 8); d incorporate specified provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 9); e revoke the Regulations specified in Schedule 2 to the extent specified in that Schedule, and make consequential amendments (regulation 10); f contain a transitional provision and exemption (regulation 11). A Compliance Cost Assessment of the effect that these Regulations would have on the cost of business is available from Branch A of the Additives and Novel Foods Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ergon House, c/o 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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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