UK Offence Report

Verification by approved verifiers

article 2(12) of The Deregulation (Weights and Measures) Order 1999

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 If any person who is not an inspector, or is not an approved verifier, acts or purports to act as such, he 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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.

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 article 2(12)?

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 Deregulation (Weights and Measures) Order 1999, 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 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
Status not determined
Made
1 March 1999
In force from
Not determined
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order, which is made under section 1 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 (c. 40), amends certain provisions of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (the “1985 Act”). This Order makes the following amendments to the 1985 Act– a that equipment to which section 11 of the 1985 Act applies may be tested, passed as fit for use for trade and stamped with the prescribed stamp by a manufacturer, installer or repairer of the said equipment who is for the time being approved for such purpose (an “approved verifier”) by the Secretary of State (section 11(4A)) (article 2(3)); b for approvals of persons by the Secretary of State as approved verifiers if he is satisfied that the person would, if approved, satisfy certain requirements and that he considers the person a fit and proper person to be so approved (section 11A) (article 2(7)); c confers on a local weights and measures authority the power to provide advice and assistance to the Secretary of State in connection with the carrying out by him of any audit or inspection of an applicant’s or approved verifier’s quality system if requested and to charge a fee for such advice and assistance (section 74(5)) (article 2(11)); d adds a new Schedule to the 1985 Act to provide for– i matters incidental to approvals of persons by the Secretary of State; form, effect and conditions of approvals; suspension of approvals; withdrawal of approvals and grant of new approval following withdrawal and application for further approval (Part I Schedule 3A) (article 2(15) and Schedule); and ii requirements to be met by approved verifiers: maintenance of a quality system; the preparation and keeping up-to-date a quality system manual; keeping of records (Part II Schedule 3A) (article 2(15) and Schedule); e the acceptance by an inspector of weights and measures of testing of equipment to which section 11 of the 1985 Act applies by an official EEA tester; an official EEA tester is a person who had responsibility within an EEA State for metrological control of such equipment or was accredited in an EEA State as a person operating a laboratory for the purpose of testing such equipment (section 11B) (article 3); f by authorising an approved verifier who is a manufacturer of equipment to which section 11 of the 1985 Act applies to apply the prescribed stamp to that equipment notwithstanding that it has not been passed as fit for use for trade provided certain requirements are fulfilled (section 15A) (article 4); g for offences committed by approved verifiers in respect of the stamping of equipment in contravention of the provisions of the 1985 Act or an instrument made under the Act or without duly testing the equipment and pre-test stamping (articles 2(12) and 4); or any breach of any duty imposed on an approved verifier (in respect of which section 34 of the 1985 Act, which makes provision for a defence of due diligence, applies) (article 2(12)); and h consequential amendments to the 1985 Act arising from the amendments described above.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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