UK Offence Report

the following: Testing persons for the presence of specified Class A drugs 17 a Action Notes for Guidance…

paragraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE of The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Codes of Practice) (Modification) Order 2001

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 after section 16, insert the following: Testing persons for the presence of specified Class A drugs 17 a Action Notes for Guidance 17A When warning a person who is asked to provide a urine or non-intimate sample in accordance with paragraph 17.1, the following form of words may be used: You do not have to provide a sample, but I must warn you that if you fail or refuse without good cause to do so, you will commit an offence for which you may be imprisoned, or fined, or both. 17B A sample has to be sufficient and suitable.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (with intent to) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses with intent to - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach paragraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE?

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. Selling the goods under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Codes of Practice) (Modification) Order 2001 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Codes of Practice) (Modifications to Code C and Code D) (Certain Police Areas) Order 2002
Revoked on
20 May 2002
Made
20 June 2001
In force from
16 July 2001
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

Section 63B of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 gives police officers a new power to undertake tests for the presence of specified Class A drugs in relation to certain persons in police detention. Section 66(2) of the 1984 Act provides that codes in connection with these powers must be in place before the powers are exercised. This Order puts in place modifications to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 codes of practice to provide for drug testing within police detention. The modifications are only to have effect for 2 years and extend only to named police areas where the drug testing provisions are to be piloted.

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 “commits 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