UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 6(1) of The Controls on Certain Azo Dyes and “Blue Colourant” Regulations 2003 (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 contravenes regulation 5, or causes or permits another person to contravene that regulation, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 6(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes regulation 5, or causes or permits another person to contravene that regulation.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Controls on Certain Azo Dyes and “Blue Colourant” Regulations 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
17 December 2003
In force from
8 January 2004
Extent
E+W+S

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 give effect to European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/61/EC on azocolourants, as amended by Commission Directive 2003/3/EC on “blue colourant”. To the extent that the Regulations apply to azocolourants, they also apply to Northern Ireland. Both Directives make amendments to the regime established under Council Directive 76/769/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations. The Regulations apply from 8th January 2004 in relation to azocolourants and from 30th June 2004 in relation to “blue colourant”. Regulation 3 sets out exclusions from the scope of the Regulations. Regulation 4 provides that azo dyes may not be used in textile and leather articles which may come into direct and prolonged contact with the human skin or oral cavity where such substances, by reductive cleavage of one or more azo groups, may release in detectable concentrations one or more of the aromatic amines listed in Schedule 1. The supply of textile and leather articles which do not comply with regulation 4(1) is prohibited by regulation 4(3). Regulation 4(4) contains transitional provisions permitting the supply of leather and textile articles placed on the market in a Member State before 11th September 2003 and articles made of recycled fibres placed on the market before 1st January 2005. Regulation 5 prohibits the supply and the use of “blue colourant” defined in Schedule 2 for colouring textile and leather articles as a substance or constituent of preparations in concentrations higher than 0.1% by mass. The prohibition on supply does not apply to “blue colourant” which is placed on the market before 30th June 2004 (regulation 5(2)). Regulation 6 makes it an offence to contravene regulation 5 and specifies the penalties for such an offence. By virtue of regulation 7, regulation 4 and other regulations insofar as they relate to regulation 4, are safety regulations made under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. This Act makes the supply of goods in contravention of safety regulations an offence and makes other provisions for the enforcement of safety regulations. Regulation 8 specifies the powers of the Environment Agency, in England and Wales, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, in Scotland, to enforce regulation 5. In these Regulations, the substances in Schedules 1 and 2 are identified by reference to their CAS Numbers, Index Numbers and EC Numbers. The CAS Number is given in the CAS Registry Handbook, ISSN 0093-058X, which may be inspected at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1V 0BN. The Index Number is the identification code given to the substance in amended Annex I of Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (O.J. No. P196, 16.8.67, p. 1) and published in the European List of Notified Chemical Substances (Elincs). The EC Number is the identification code given to the substance and published in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (Einecs). A Regulatory Impact Assessment and a Transposition Note in relation to these Regulations have been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies of either of these documents can be obtained from Defra, Chemicals and GM Policy Division, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE or from Department of Trade and Industry, Bay 432, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

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