UK Offence Report

Obstruction etc

article 10 of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 2000

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

10 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on him by virtue of article 6, 7 or 8 of this Order; b without reasonable excuse prevents any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c obstructs any such officer who is exercising any of those powers, shall be guilty of an offence, and liable— i on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; or ii on conviction on indictment to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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); other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

The defence, as drafted

10 Any person who— a fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a British sea-fishery officer under the powers conferred on him by virtue of article 6, 7 or 8 of this Order; b without reasonable excuse prevents any other person from complying with any such requirement; or c obstru

What would breach article 10?

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 Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 2000.
  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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
12 January 2000
In force from
8 February 2000
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 revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1994 (“the 1994 Order”) and the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) (Amendment) Order 1996 insofar as they extend to England and Northern Ireland. In providing for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (O.J. No. L261, 20.10.93, p.1) (“the Control Regulation”) in consequence of it having been amended by Council Regulation (EC) 2846/98 (O.J. No. L192, 8.7.98, p.4), this Order largely re-enacts the provisions of the 1994 Order as well as introducing some new provisions. The Order creates offences in respect of breaches of the provisions referred to in column 1 (and briefly described in column 3) of the Schedule to this Order and in article 3 of this Order. The amendments to the Control Regulation made by Council Regulation (EC) No. 2846/98 include in particular— the requirement to keep a logbook in respect of amounts of fish of over 50kgs; the requirement for vessels wishing to land catches into a Member State other than the flag Member State to comply with the requirements of a designated ports scheme (if any) or give four hours advance notification of their intention to land to the competent authorities of the Member State of landing; new rules in respect of the submission of sales notes, transport declarations and take-over declarations; and the extension of a number of requirements to third country fishing vessels. Penalties for contravention of the Community provisions are to be found in article 4 of, and the Schedule to, the Order. For the purpose of enforcing the Community control measures specified in the Schedule, this Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Order). Provision is also made for the prosecution of offenders in England and Northern Ireland and for the punishment of anyone found guilty of furnishing false information or obstructing a British sea-fishery officer (articles 3 and 10 of the Order). The statutory maximum penalty specified in the Schedule is currently £5,000. The Order provides powers for the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrates' court in England or Northern Ireland (article 5 of the Order). Articles 9, 11 and 12 contain ancillary provisions. The Order does not form part of the law of Scotland. It does not apply in relation to fishing activities within the territorial sea of Wales. A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2846/98 has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from Fisheries IV Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Room 432, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

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 0.92.

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