UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Measuring Equipment (Capacity Measures and Testing Equipment) Regulations 1995

the instrument as a whole of The Measuring Equipment (Capacity Measures and Testing Equipment) Regulations 1995

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

84 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Measuring Equipment (Capacity Measures and Testing Equipment) Regulations 1995.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 84 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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 Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 2006
Revoked on
6 April 2006
Made
10 March 1995
In force from
10 April 1995
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations prescribe, for the purposes of section 11(1) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (“the Act”), certain dry and liquid capacity measures for use for trade. The Regulations replace Parts III and IV of the Weights and Measures Regulations 1963 and cover all capacity measures other than— i those for the purposes of measuring and serving intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises at which it is sold, to which the Capacity Serving Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Regulations 1988 apply, or ii those for use only for making up or checking packages (in accordance with section 49(1) and (2)(a) of the Act), which are specified in paragraph 4 of Schedule 4 to the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 1986. The Regulations apply to dispensing measures for pharmaceutical purposes (formerly called apothecaries' measures). The effect of prescription is to make it unlawful to use these capacity measures for trade purposes unless they have been tested, passed as fit for such use and stamped by an inspector of weights and measures. The Regulations make simplified provision about— a the materials and principles of construction of capacity measures (regulations 4 to 6); b their purpose and manner of use (regulation 7); c their testing for conformity with the nominal capacity of the whole measure and those of its subdivisions, within certain prescribed limits of error (regulations 8 to 14); d their being passed as fit for use for trade and stamped, and the obliteration of stamps (regulations 15 to 17). The Regulations make the following changes of substance— a a requirement has been introduced to ensure that a buyer of intoxicating liquor, which is transferred from a capacity measure to another container, should have a clear and unobstructed view of the measurement and the transfer (regulation 7(c)); b provision is made for testing based on the results of testing a group of measures of between 500 and 150,000 in number (regulation 12); c to avoid duplicate testing of capacity measures imported from other member States of the European Communities or a state of the European Economic Area, by allowing weights and measures inspectors testing the fitness of such measures for use for trade to accept test reports and results from approved bodies in those States (regulations 13 and 16); d dispensing measures for pharmaceutical purposes are now largely dealt with by British Standards (BS) and the relevant BS is referred to in relation to their constructional requirements (regulation 6(2)) and limits of error (regulation 15); e the permissible limits of error are amended and are now in excess and in deficiency (formerly in excess only) (regulation 15 and Schedule 2); and f the requirements relating to the placing of the line on line measures are amended and, on and after 1st October 1995, the only imperial unit which may be marked is the pint (regulation 16(5) and (7)). The Regulations also amend the Weights and Measures (Local and Working Standard Capacity Measures and Testing Equipment) Regulations 1990 by the inclusion of provisions about the use of peristaltic pump dispensers for the testing of dispensing measures for pharmaceutical purposes. Copies of British Standards (see regulations 2(1), 6(2), 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16) can be obtained from any of the sales outlets operated by the British Standards Institution (BSI), or by post from the BSI at Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, MK14 6LE. A Compliance Cost Assessment of the impact that these Regulations will have on business will be available in the libraries of the Houses of Parliament once the Regulations, having been made, are laid before Parliament and from the National Weights and Measures Laboratory, Stanton Avenue, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0JZ.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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