UK Offence Report

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if, without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, he…

article 7(1) of The Plant Health (Forestry) (Phytophthora ramorum) (Great Britain) Order 2002

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if, without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, he contravenes or fails to comply with article 3(2)(b).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

The defence, as drafted

1 A person shall be guilty of an offence if, without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, he contravenes or fails to comply with article 3(2)(b).

What would breach article 7(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Plant Health (Forestry) (Phytophthora ramorum) (Great Britain) Order 2002, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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 Plant Health (Forestry) ("Phytophthora ramorum") (Great Britain) (No. 2) Order 2002
Revoked on
5 November 2002
Made
6 June 2002
In force from
27 June 2002
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.

This Order implements measures to prevent the introduction and spread into Great Britain of the pest Phytophthora ramorum, a fungus which is not established in the United Kingdom. It regulates the landing and movement in and within Great Britain of forest trees and wood and bark from forest trees originating in the United States of America which has been identified as susceptible to the pest, known to cause Sudden Oak Death syndrome in certain species of oak, as well as harm to other plants. There are associated plant health Orders in England, Scotland and Wales also taking measures against Phytophthora ramorum. The species identified as “susceptible material” in various forms (as scheduled) are Acer macrophyllum, Aesculus californica, Lithocarpus densiflorus and the genus Quercus L. Certain prohibitions already exist in respect of certain Quercus species in specific forms under the principal order (see the footnotes to the Schedule), which is defined in article 2. This Order requires susceptible material which originates in the USA and is landed in Great Britain to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate or reforwarding phytosanitary certificate containing a declaration that the material originates in a location which is officially recognised in the USA as free from the pest (article 3(2)(a)). In the case of certain wood material, items which originate from an area which is not free from the pest may be imported if certain treatment requirements are met (article 3(2)(a), and see the Schedule for the details of the treatment requirements). The landing requirements do not apply to items which enter another member State or elsewhere in the United Kingdom or Channel Islands or Isle of Man before being moved to Great Britain, but they do apply to consignments from other countries outside the EU if the susceptible material the subject of the consignment originates in the USA. This Order also prohibits the movement and keeping of susceptible material which has been imported in breach of its terms. This prohibition applies only to those doing so in the course of a trade or business (article 3(2)(b)). For purposes of scientific research, licences may be issued by the Forestry Commissioners under the principal Order to authorise the landing, movement and keeping of susceptible material which would otherwise be prohibited under this Order (article 5). The landing requirements and provisions relating to licensing in this Order apply whether a person is acting in the course of a trade or business or not. An inspector acting under this Order may exercise powers to check compliance (by examining, sampling and marking property and/or premises) conferred by article 24 of the principal Order (“article 24 powers”), including powers to inspect documents, including documents and records held on computer (article 6). Any article 24 power exercised under this Order has the same effect as if exercised under the relevant article of the principal Order so that once that power is exercised, the relevant consequential provisions of the principal Order, including provisions as to offences, take effect. In the absence of a reasonable excuse, it is an offence under this Order to keep or move susceptible material which has been imported in breach of the Order (article 7). (Importation infringements may be prosecuted under the Customs & Excise Management Act 1979.) Failure to observe the conditions of a licence issued by virtue of this Order may constitute an offence under the terms of the principal Order (article 5(2)). No Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared in respect of the measures contained in this Order.

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 0.92.

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