UK Offence Report

6 It shall be an offence for a person– a intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a…

regulation 6 of The Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) (Enforcement) Regulations 1999

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

6 It shall be an offence for a person– a intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 4; b without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a requirement made under regulation 4 or a request made under regulation 5; or c knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is made or the information is furnished for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person the whole or any part of any compensatory allowance.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

“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: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

son in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 4; b without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a requirement made under regulation 4 or a request made under regulation 5; or c knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is made o

What would breach regulation 6?

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 Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) (Enforcement) Regulations 1999.
  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
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 Uplands Transitional Payment Regulations 2011 (revoked)
Revoked on
17 February 2011
Made
15 December 1999
In force from
16 December 1999
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, which come into force on 16th December 1999, provide for enforcement of the rules of the United Kingdom’s Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances Schemes in 2000 in England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland and Scotland where a farm includes land there as well as land in another of the United Kingdom’s four jurisdictions. They re-enact, with minor and drafting amendments, the enforcement provisions of the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1996, as amended. The rules of the Schemes for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are laid down in separate regulations. The Regulations comply with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1750/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF). Compensatory allowances are paid in compliance with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2603/1999 laying down rules for the transition to the rural development support provided for by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999. Regulations 4 and 5 contain powers of entry, inspection and collection of evidence and regulations 6 to 9 deal with offences and penalties. No Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.

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 0.90.

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