UK Offence Report

2 Any person who, for the purposes of procuring the issue of a movement document— a makes a statement which…

regulation 21(2) of The Fish Health Regulations 1997

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 Any person who, for the purposes of procuring the issue of a movement document— a makes a statement which he knows to be false in a material particular; b recklessly make a statement which is false in a material particular; or c intentionally fails to disclose any material particular, shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, recklessly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally, recklessly.

What would breach regulation 21(2)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Fish Health Regulations 1997.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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 Aquatic Animal Health (England and Wales) Regulations 2009
Made
30 July 1997
In force from
21 August 1997
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 revoke and re-enact with amendments the Fish Health Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/3300) as amended. The Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, implement Council Directive 91/67/EEC (OJ No. L46, 19.2.91, p.1) concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products, as amended, and Council Directive 95/70/EC (OJ No. L332, 30.12.95, p.33) introducing minimum Community measures for the control of certain diseases affecting bivalve molluscs, (“the Directives”), to the extent that they are not implemented by existing legislation. The Regulations— a prohibit the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products unless certain requirements relating to their health status are met (regulation 3); b prohibit the transport of aquaculture animals unless certain requirements relating to the welfare of the aquaculture animals and the prevention of the spread of disease are met (regulation 4); c prohibit the despatch of aquaculture animals and products unless requirements as to identification of the aquaculture animals and products are met (regulation 5); d contain certain requirements concerning movement documents for aquaculture animals and products (regulation 6); e prohibit the introduction into Great Britain from elsewhere in the European Community and from the Island of Gigha to the remainder of Great Britain of live fish, eggs and gametes unless they are accompanied by appropriate movement documents (regulation 7); f prohibit the introduction into Great Britain from elsewhere in the European Community and from the Island of Gigha to the remainder of Great Britain of certain dead fish which have not been eviscerated unless they come from areas of appropriate fish health status (regulation 8); g prohibit the introduction into Great Britain from elsewhere in the European Community of live molluscs, eggs and gametes unless they are accompanied by appropriate movement documents (regulation 9); h regulate the relaying within the Great Britain of live molluscs, eggs and gametes from certain areas within Great Britain (regulation 9); i set out the requirement for quarantine of certain introductions of wild fish, molluscs and crustacea from the deep sea (regulation 10); j prohibit the export to other parts of the European Community of aquaculture animals and products from Great Britain unless they are accompanied by appropriate movement documents where required pursuant to the Directive (regulation 11); k require the notification of certain diseases (regulation 12); l provide the Minister with powers to impose movement restrictions and to require slaughter and disinfection in connection with certain diseases (regulations 13 and 14); m set out the arrangements regarding, and provide powers for, the enforcement of these Regulations (regulations 15 to 18); n provide European Inspectors with certain powers to establish whether the Directives are applied uniformly (regulation 19); o provide that further persons may be deemed to be guilty of an offence when an offence is committed by a body corporate or a Scottish partnership (regulation 20); p provide that the contravention of, or failure to comply with provision of the Regulations shall be an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale except for an offence under regulation 12(1) which shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (regulations 21 and 22); q amend the Registration of Fish Farming and Shellfish Farming Businesses Order 1985; and r revoke the Fish Health Regulations 1992, as amended. A Compliance Cost Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from Fisheries II (Aquaculture, Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries) Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Room 308, 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 0.92.

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