UK Offence Report

Punishment of offences

regulation 92(2) of The Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1998 (revoked)

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

2 A person contravening, without reasonable excuse, any of regulations 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 64, 66, 68, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79 or 81 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

2 A person contravening, without reasonable excuse, any of regulations 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 64, 66, 68, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79 or 81 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 92(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1998.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1998-05-06); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
9 April 1998
In force from
6 May 1998
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 extend to the United Kingdom, implement— Council Directive 95/69/EC laying down the conditions and arrangements for approving and registering certain establishments and intermediaries operating in the animal feed sector and amending Directives 70/524/EEC, 74/63/EEC, 79/373/EEC and 82/471/EEC (OJ No. L332, 30.12.95, p.15), and Article 1:10 of Council Directive 96/51/EC amending Directive 70/524/EEC concerning additives in feeding stuffs (OJ No. L235, 17.9.96, p.39), in relation to feeding stuffs which do not contain antibiotics, coccidiostats and other medicinal substances or growth promoters. The Regulations introduce new requirements, in accordance with Directive 95/69/EC, under which— “establishments” in the United Kingdom (as defined in Article 1.3 of Directive 95/69) must be approved/registered by the competent authorities (local authorities in Great Britain and the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland) for the manufacture with a view to putting them into circulation of certain feed additives, premixtures, products regulated by Council Directive 82/471/EEC and compound feeding stuffs, “intermediaries” based in the United Kingdom (also defined in Article 1.3 of Directive 95/69) must be approved/registered by the same competent authorities for the wrapping, packaging, storing and “putting into circulation” (see definition in Article 1.3 of Directive 95/69) of certain feed additives, premixtures and products regulated by Directive 82/471/EEC, and intermediaries based in a member state other than the United Kingdom, and putting into circulation in the United Kingdom products of the kinds referred to in (b) above, must be approved/registered by the competent authorities in the member state concerned, (regulations 33 to 44, 48 to 59, 63 to 68 and 70 to 81). In general terms, the approval requirement applies to the exercise of activities which, under Directive 95/69/EC, are considered potentially hazardous to animals, humans or the environment, whereas the registration provisions govern products considered less sensitive. In both cases, however, establishments and intermediaries must comply with detailed “quality control” requirements specified in the Annex to Directive 95/69, and that is a precondition before approval (which can only be given following an inspection by the competent authority) can be given. The obligation to comply with those requirements continues once approval/registration has been obtained. Application for approval/registration must be made to the competent authority, and the application must contain specified information. The competent authority must keep a register/list of approved/registered establishments and intermediaries and must update them as necessary. Applicants may apply for approval/registration in respect of activities additional to or replacing any for which they are already approved/registered, and the competent authority can cancel approval/registration in cases where an activity is no longer being exercised, or where the quality control requirements are not being met (regulations 5 to 32). Transitional arrangements apply in the case of establishments and intermediaries which were already exercising, on 1st April 1998, activities of a kind for which approval/registration is necessary. In particular, they may continue to exercise the activities concerned after that date, and until their application is processed, provided they apply before 1st September 1998—see the definitions in regulations 3 and 4 commencing with “EC permitted” or “UK permitted”. In implementation of Article 13 of Directive 70/524/EEC, as substituted by Directive 96/51, the Regulations also contain provisions regulating, in relation to establishments and intermediaries requiring approval/registration— the putting into circulation of certain additives, premixtures containing those additives and compound feeding stuffs containing such premixtures (regulations 45 and 60); the supply of certain additives, alone or in premixtures (regulations 45 and 61), and the incorporation of certain additives, and premixtures containing such additives, in compound feeding stuffs (regulations 47 and 62). The Regulations provide for their enforcement by the competent authority and contain detailed provisions for that purpose, including provision for the taking of samples of products controlled by the Regulations, analysis of such samples, offences and penalties (regulations 82 to 97). The provisions of Directive 95/69 and Article 1:10 of Directive 96/51 implemented by these Regulations are implemented, so far as relevant to feeding stuffs containing antibiotics, coccidiostats and other medicinal substances or growth promoters, by the Feedingstuffs (Zootechnical Products) Regulations 1998, save that the requirements in Directive 95/69 relating to registration do not apply to these products. A Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared and a copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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