UK Offence Report

16 It shall be an offence for any person— a without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with the provisions…

regulation 16 of The Hemp (Third Country Imports) Regulations 2002

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

16 It shall be an offence for any person—

a without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with the provisions of regulation 3,

9 or 10, or any obligation imposed by Article 17a of Commission Regulation 245/2001;

b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of

a power conferred by regulation 13;

c without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with

a request made under regulation 14; or

d knowingly or recklessly to make

a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in

a material particular where the statement is made or the information is furnished in purported compliance with—

i any requirement imposed by regulation 9; or

ii any request made pursuant to regulation 14.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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

“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: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

16 It shall be an offence for any person— a without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with the provisions of regulation 3, 9 or 10, or any obligation imposed by Article 17a of Commission Regulation 245/2001; b intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 13; c without reas

What would breach regulation 16?

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 Hemp (Third Country Imports) Regulations 2002.
  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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
Status not determined
Made
25 March 2002
In force from
1 May 2002
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 come into force on 1st May 2002, introduce provisions concerning the import into the United Kingdom of true hemp, hemp seeds for sowing and hemp seeds other than for sowing (“hemp”) from countries other than Member States of the European Community (“third countries”). The Regulations implement the requirements of Article 17a of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 245/2001 concerning imported hemp (OJ No. L35, 6.2.2001, p.18. Article 17a was inserted by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1093/2001 (OJ No. L150, 6.6.2001, p.17) and amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 52/2002 (OJ No. L10, 12.1.2002, p.10)) in implementation of the requirements in respect of trade with third countries contained in Title II of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1673/2000 on the common organisation of the markets in flax and hemp grown for fibre (OJ No. L193, 29.7.2000, p.16). The Regulations require that hemp from third countries be imported under a licence, and, in the case of hemp seeds other than for sowing, under an authorisation, issued by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in respect of imports into England, the National Assembly for Wales in respect of imports into Wales, the Scottish Ministers in respect of imports into Scotland, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in respect of imports into Northern Ireland (“the appropriate authority”) (regulation 3). The Regulations establish procedures for the application for, and the grant and variation of, import licences as well as specifying the scope of those licences (regulations 4 to 7), and introduce similar procedures for authorisations (regulation 11). They also introduce requirements in relation to the tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) content of the variety of true hemp or hemp seeds for sowing imported (regulation 8) and the content of attestations provided by importers or subsequent users on the use made of hemp seeds other than for sowing (regulation 12). The Regulations introduce information and record keeping requirements (regulations 9 and 10) and establish provisions on enforcement (regulations 13 and 14), the suspension and revocation of licences and authorisations (regulation 15) and on offences and penalties (regulations 16 to 19). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations. Copies of this assessment can be obtained from the Organics, Forestry and Industrial Crops Division of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. A copy has been placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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