UK Offence Report

Obstruction etc. of officers

regulation 12(1) of The Organic Products Regulations 2001 (revoked)

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

1 Any person who—

a intentionally obstructs any person acting in the enforcement or execution of the Council Regulation or these Regulations, or

b without reasonable cause, fails to give to any person acting in the enforcement or execution of the Council Regulation or these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require of him for the performance of his functions under that Regulation or these Regulations, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

What would breach regulation 12(1)?

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 Organic Products Regulations 2001.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2001-03-19); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
14 February 2001
In force from
19 March 2001
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which apply to England and come into force on 19th March 2001, provide for the continued administration, execution and enforcement of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs, and of Commission Regulations supplementing that Regulation. A full list of amendments to Regulation 2092/91 is in Schedule 2 and a full list of the relevant Commission Regulations is in Schedule 1. Regulation 2092/91 has now been amended in particular by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1804/1999, which brings livestock production within the scope of Regulation 2092/91. Although Regulation 1804/1999 entered into force on 24th August 1999, only the prohibitions on the use of genetically modified organisms and their derivatives set out in that Regulation apply from that date. The rest of that Regulation applies from 24th August 2000 (Article 3 of that Regulation refers). Regulation 3 designates the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as the inspection authority responsible for the inspection system under Regulation 2092/91, as amended (“the Council Regulation”), and the approval of private inspection bodies. Producers, importers and processors of organic products covered by the Council Regulation are subject to this inspection system. For the purposes of enforcing Articles 9(9) and 10(3) of the Council Regulation (irregularities and infringements of the rules on labelling and production of organic products) the Minister, or the private inspection body as appropriate, must give the relevant local authority the information which the local authority needs to enforce the organic labelling provisions (regulation 3(2)). The Minister is also authorised to act on behalf of the Scottish Ministers in respect of any functions exercisable by them as the authority responsible for the operation of the inspection system, the approval and supervision of inspection bodies and certain other purposes (regulation 3(3)). (Power to enter into corresponding arrangements for such functions to be exercised by him on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland is conferred by, respectively, section 41 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38) and section 28 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47).) The Regulations impose an additional labelling requirement in respect of organic products in pursuance of Article 5 of the Council Regulation (regulation 4). The code numbers referred to in regulation 4 are contained in the UKROFS Standards for Organic Food Production, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Details of the code numbers are available, free of charge, from Rural and Marine Environment Division, Branch D, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR (telephone 020 7238 5605; fax number 020 7238 6148). Each local authority within its area will enforce regulation 4 and the provisions of the Council Regulation specified in column 1 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations, as read with any supplementary provisions listed in column 2 of that Schedule and, in the case of livestock and livestock products and as permitted by Article 12 of the Council Regulation as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1804/1999, any additional standards for organic livestock and livestock products amongst those set out (which largely duplicate the EC standards) in the UKROFS Standards for Organic Food Production, February 2001 Edition, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, (a copy of which can be inspected, during normal office hours, at the address given above) (regulation 6(1)). The Regulations also— a provide for the payment of contributions to inspection expenses and access to the inspection system (regulation 5); b make provision for offences and penalties (regulation 6(2)) and apply presumptions relating to sale and human consumption (regulation 6(3) and (4)); c contain powers of entry for authorised officers of local authorities (regulation 10) and supplementary provisions on enforcement (regulations 7 to 9, and 11 to 13) and protect officers acting in good faith (regulation 14); d revoke the Regulations listed in Schedule 4, in so far as they apply to England, and make consequential amendments (regulation 15). No regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.

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