UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 10(1) of The Veal (Marketing Payment) Regulations 1997

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 It shall be an offence for

a person—

a without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with the provisions of regulation 5;

b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of

a power conferred by regulation 6; or

c without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with

a request made under regulation 7.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 It shall be an offence for a person— a without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with the provisions of regulation 5; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 6; or c without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a request made under regulation 7.

What would breach regulation 10(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Veal (Marketing Payment) Regulations 1997.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
13 August 1997
In force from
15 August 1997
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 provide for payments by the appropriate Minister (defined in regulation 2) to producers in the United Kingdom in pursuance of Article 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2443/96 (OJ No. L333, 21.12.96, p.2),, which permits Member States to make additional payments to producers in the beef and veal sector. Payment may be made in respect of a veal calf sold after 19th March 1996 and before 10th November 1996 for slaughter for human consumption, provided that no payment was made under the Beef (Marketing Payment) Regulations 1996 or the Beef (Marketing Payment) (No. 2) Regulations 1996 in respect of that calf. Regulation 5 requires a producer who has made an application under the Regulations to retain for four years specified records relating to the animals in respect of which he made the application. Regulation 6 confers on authorised persons powers of entry and inspection as well as powers of seizure and retention of records, and regulation 7 requires that such assistance as may be reasonably requested by authorised persons be given by applicants for payments and their employees and agents. Regulation 8 specifies the circumstances in which payments made to a producer may be recovered by the appropriate Minister and regulation 9 provides for the payment of interest on overdue payments. Regulation 10 creates offences and prescribes penalties. Regulation 11 specifies time limits for bringing prosecutions and regulation 12 makes provision for dealing with offences committed by corporate bodies and Scottish partnerships.

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