UK Offence Report

Offences and enforcement

regulation 22(1) of The Infant Formula and Follow–on Formula 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 any of the provisions contained in regulations 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 22(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 Infant Formula and Follow–on Formula 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
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
Status not determined
Made
15 January 1995
In force from
1 March 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, which apply to Great Britain, come into force on 1st March 1995. They implement Commission Directive 91/321/EEC (OJ No. L175, 4.7.91, p.35) on infant formulae (which are foods suitable as the sole source of nutrition for infants during the first four to six months of life and often form an important part of the diet throughout infancy) and follow-on formulae (which are foods given to older infants and young children as an alternative to milk or infant formulae). They also implement Council Directive 92/52/EEC (OJ No. L179, 1.7.92, p.129) on infant formulae and follow-on formulae intended for export to third countries. The principal provisions of the Regulations— 1 prohibit the sale of food labelled as infant formulae or follow-on formulae unless it complies with the requirements of the Regulations as to composition, labelling, appearance and packaging (regulations 2, 3 and 8 to 16); 2 require infant formulae and follow-on formulae exported to countries not in the European Community to comply with similar compositional standards unless the importing country otherwise permits and require products to be labelled in an appropriate language and in a way which avoids confusion between infant formulae and follow-on formulae (regulations 5, 6 and 7); 3 limit the advertising of infant formulae to specified types of publications and restrict the content of advertisements for infant formulae and follow-on formulae (regulations 17 and 18); 4 prohibit special displays or promotions of infant formulae at retail outlets (regulation 19); 5 prohibit the promotion of infant formulae to the general public, expectant mothers, and others by providing such formulae free or at reduced prices (regulation 20); 6 lay down requirements as to the information to be contained in informational and educational materials dealing with the feeding of infants and intended to reach pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children, and regulate the cases in which a manufacturer or distributor of infant formulae may make gifts of informational or educational equipment or materials (regulation 21). The standards for infant formula or follow-on formula established by the Codex Alimentarius are available for inspection at the Library of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH and at the Scottish Office, New St. Andrew’s House, St. James' Square, Edinburgh EH1 3TE. A Compliance Cost Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and copies can be obtained from the Consumer Protection Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

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”; 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