UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) Regulations 2000

the instrument as a whole of The Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) Regulations 2000

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

84 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) Regulations 2000.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 84 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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 Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 2006
Revoked on
6 April 2006
Made
30 March 2000
In force from
2 May 2000
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 consolidate with minor amendments the Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988 No. 876) as amended by the Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) (Amendment) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988 No. 2120), the Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) (Amendment) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991 No. 2019), the Weighing Equipment (Non-automatic Weighing Machines) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992 No. 3037), the Weights and Measures (Metrication Amendments) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994 No. 1851) and the Non-automatic Weighing Machines and Non-automatic Weighing Instruments (Amendment) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995 No. 428). The Regulations continue to prescribe non-automatic weighing machines for the purposes of section 11(1) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (regulation 3(1)). The effect of prescription is to make it unlawful to use such machines for trade purposes unless they have been tested, passed as fit for such use and stamped by an inspector of weights and measures, or by an approved verifier under the terms of the 1985 Act as amended by the Deregulation (Weights and Measures) Order 1999, S.I. 1999/503. These requirements of prescription are also in general satisfied by a non-automatic weighing machine complying with: Council Directive No. 73/360/EEC, as amended, on non-automatic weighing machines and bearing the mark of EEC initial verification and, where appropriate, the sign of EEC pattern approval. This mark and sign are described in Schedule 1 to the Measuring Instruments (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1998, S.I. 1988/186; or Council Directive No. 90/384/EEC, as amended, on non-automatic weighing instruments and satisfying the essential requirements set out in Annex I of the Directive. The Regulations make provision as to: the purposes for which such non-automatic weighing machines may be used for trade (regulation 4); the materials and principles of construction of them and their marking (regulations 5 to 22 and Schedule 1); the manner of erection and use of them for trade (regulations 23 to 31); their testing, passing as fit for use for trade and stamping and the obliteration of such stamps (regulations 37 and 39 to 46 and Schedule 2); and the prescribed limits of error (regulation 38 and Schedule 3). A Regulatory Impact Assessment in respect of these Regulations is available and a copy can be obtained from the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry), Stanton Avenue, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0JZ. A copy has also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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