UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Principal Regulations

regulation 2(h) of The Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 1997

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

4 If the manufacturer or his authorised representative contravenes

a notice under paragraph (1) above—

a he shall be guilty of an offence; and

b all instruments to which the offence relates shall be liable to be forfeited. ;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 manufacturer
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 manufacturer 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 2(h)?

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 Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 1997, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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 Non-automatic Weighing Instruments Regulations 2000 (revoked)
Revoked on
1 January 2001
Made
17 December 1997
In force from
1 February 1998
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 amend the Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995 No. 1907) (“the principal Regulations”) which implement Council Directive 90/384/EEC (OJ No. L189, 20.7.90, p. 1 as corrected by the corrigendum published in OJ No. L258, 22.9.90, p. 35) (as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC) (O.J. No. L220, 30.8.93, p. 1) (“the Directive”) on the harmonisation of the laws of the member States relating to non-automatic weighing instruments. The Regulations make the following changes to the principal Regulations— regulation 2(2) is amended to clarify the role of the “ostensible” and “effective supplier” in respect of the supply of an instrument (regulation 2(a)); regulation 3 which provides for the application of the principal Regulations is amended in respect of certain of the definitions used therein (regulation 2(b)); regulation 8 is amended to provide that, for testing purposes, in addition to the weights set out in the Table in regulation 8(1), “equivalent equipment” (as defined in the amended regulation 8) may also be used (regulation 2(c)); regulations 11 and 12 are amended to achieve a closer alignment with those provisions of the Directive which they implement. In the latter case the chronological order to be followed when applying the CE marking in the case of EC unit verification is prescribed (regulations 2(d) and (e)); regulation 13(7)(b) is amended to provide a more detailed explanation of the examinations and tests which a manufacturer in making an EC declaration of type conformity indicates he has carried out (regulation 2(f)); regulation 16 is replaced by a new regulation which enables an authorised person to suspend an EC declaration of type conformity (either generally or in relation to particular areas or places) in an extended range of circumstances and against a manufacturer’s authorised representative as well as against a manufacturer. Provisions also permit the manufacturer or his authorised representative to apply for the early removal of a suspension notice in certain circumstances (regulation 2(h)); regulation 20 is deleted (regulation 2(j)); regulation 23(2) is amended to clarify the scope of the exemption from the offence provision in regulation 23(1) in cases of alteration, defacement or removal of any mark (regulation 2(m)); regulation 26 is deleted and replaced by a new provision which enables an authorised person to take immediate enforcement action to restrict the use and availability of instruments in certain circumstances. The new provision lays down the procedures to be followed by the authorised person and the steps which may be taken by the Secretary of State (regulation 2(n)); a new regulation 26A is introduced into the principal Regulations. This provides for compliance notice procedures which are to be followed in circumstances where the affixing of the CE marking to an instrument involves a contravention of the principal Regulations but there is no need for immediate enforcement action as provided for in regulation 26 (regulation 2(o)); a new regulation 27A is introduced into the principal Regulations dealing with the affixing to instruments of re-qualification stickers (regulation 2(p)); certain minor typographical or consequential amendments are made to the principal Regulations (regulations 2(g), (i), (k), (l), (q) and (r)).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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