UK Offence Report

Obstruction etc. of officers

regulation 19(2) of The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2005

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 Any person who, in purported compliance with any such requirement as is mentioned in paragraph (1)(b)—

a furnishes information which he knows to be false or misleading in

a material particular; or

b recklessly furnishes information which is false or misleading in

a material particular, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

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

The defence, as drafted

aragraph (2), be a defence for the accused to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by himself or by a person under his control. 2 If in any case the defence provided by paragraph (1) involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to an act or default of another person, or to relianc

What would breach regulation 19(2)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2005.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2006
Revoked on
11 January 2006
Made
21 September 2005
In force from
1 January 2006
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which apply in relation to England only, provide for the execution and enforcement there of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules (OJ No. L165, 30.4.2004, p.1) in relation to “relevant feed law” and “relevant food law”, each defined in regulation 2(1) thereof. The revised text of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 is now set out in a Corrigendum (OJ No. L191, 28.5.2004, p.1). These Regulations also impose prohibitions on the introduction of certain feed and food into England in the light of Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (OJ No. L31, 1.2.2002, p.1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1642/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L245, 29.9.2003, p.4) and as read with Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the hygiene of foodstuffs (OJ No. L139, 30.4.2004, p.1; the revised text of that Regulation is now set out in a Corrigendum, OJ No. L226, 25.6.2004, p.3). These Regulations also amend the General Food Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3279) in so far as they apply in relation to England, to provide for the execution and enforcement there of Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002, which imposes conditions on the export and re–export of food and feed from the Community for placing on the market of third countries, in so far as that Article relates to food. These Regulations also insert a new regulation, 6A, into the General Food Regulations 2004 in so far as they apply in relation to England. That new regulation provides a defence in relation to exports in the case of prosecutions for contravening or failing to comply with food law. The defence applies both in relation to items intended for export to a third country and to items intended for export to a member State. These Regulations cite as enabling powers both section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (1972 c. 68) and certain sections of the Food Safety Act 1990 (1990 c. 16). The Food Safety Act powers have been exercised to enact regulation 41(2) of these Regulations, which inserts a revised regulation 4 into the General Food Regulations 2004 to provide for the execution and enforcement of Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 in so far as it relates to food, as described in paragraph 3 above. These Regulations — provide for the designation of specified bodies as competent authorities for the purposes of the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (regulation 3); provide for the exchange and provision of information by competent authorities (regulation 4); enable a competent authority to require a control body to provide information and make records available and provide that a person who – fails to comply with a requirement to provide information or make records available, or in purported compliance with such a requirement furnishes false or misleading information, is guilty of an offence (regulation 5); enable the Secretary of State to issue codes of recommended practice to feed authorities and food authorities (regulation 6); give the Food Standards Agency the function of monitoring the performance of enforcement authorities in enforcing certain legislation (regulation 7); give the Food Standards Agency the power, for the purpose of carrying out the function referred to in sub–paragraph (e) of this paragraph — to require information to be provided and records to be made available (regulation 8), and to authorise individuals (who may thereby exercise certain powers, including a power of entry) (regulation 9); define certain terms used in regulations 7 to 9 thereof (regulation 10); provide that a person who — obstructs a person exercising a power to enter premises, take samples or inspect and copy records, fails to comply with a requirement to provide information, make records available or provide facilities, records, information or other assistance, or is guilty of an offence (regulation 11); provide a right of appeal in respect of a decision of the competent authority concerning the approval of certain establishments taken under Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (regulations 12 and 13); provide that an authorised officer of a competent authority may take with him the staff of the competent authority of another member State for the purpose of conducting an administrative enquiry under Article 36 of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (regulation 14); provide that when an “enforcing officer”, defined in regulation 15(2) thereof, enters premises for the purpose of executing and enforcing official controls he may take with him a Commission expert to enable that expert to carry out functions under Article 45 of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (regulation 15); provide that a person who enters premises under the powers referred to in sub–paragraph (j) or (k) of this paragraph and discloses any information obtained on the premises with regard to any trade secret is guilty of an offence unless he does so in the performance of his duty (regulation 16); specify which authorities are responsible for executing and enforcing regulations 5(3), 9(8), 11 and 16 thereof (regulation 17); give powers of entry to authorised officers of the authorities referred to in sub–paragraph (m) of this paragraph (regulation 18); create the offence of obstructing an officer acting in the execution of Part 2 thereof (regulation 19); provide penalties for offences under that Part (regulation 20); provide a time limit for bringing prosecutions for offences under that Part (regulation 21); make provision for the execution and enforcement of Part 3 of these Regulations (regulations 23 and 24); provide that the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are to carry out the functions given to customs services under Article 24 of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (regulation 25). make provision for the execution and enforcement thereof to be deferred until a product reaches its destination (regulation 26); in the light of Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 as read with Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 (as described in paragraph 2 above) prohibit the introduction into England of certain feed and food unless specified conditions are met (regulation 27); provide for the checking of products that are introduced into England (regulation 28); provide that an enforcement authority, first, has the power to do anything that a competent authority may do under Articles 18 to 21 and 24(3) of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 and, second, is the competent authority for the purposes of Article 22 of that Regulation (regulation 29); provide for the service of notices by an authorised officer of an enforcement authority when he wishes to take certain measures or exercise certain powers under Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 (imports of feed and food from third countries) (regulation 30); provide a right of appeal in respect of the service of notices under regulation 30 (regulations 31 and 32); enable the Secretary of State or the Agency by written declaration to suspend, or impose conditions on, the introduction into England of any product from a third country where she or it learns or reasonably suspects that any food or feed that has been or may be introduced into England from that third country is likely to constitute a serious risk to animal or public health (regulation 33); provide for charges to be payable in relation to controls carried out on consignments (regulation 34); provide for the procurement and analysis of samples of food for the purposes of the execution and enforcement of “the Import Provisions”, defined in regulation 22 thereof (regulations 35 and 36); provide powers of entry for authorised officers of food authorities in relation to the execution and enforcement of the Import Provisions (regulation 37); create the offence of obstructing an officer acting in the execution of the Import Provisions (regulation 38); create offences consisting of contravening or failing to comply with specified regulations and failing to comply with a notice served under the Import Provisions and provide penalties for offences under Part 3 thereof (regulation 39); provide a time limit for bringing prosecutions for offences under Part 3 thereof (regulation 40); amend the General Food Regulations 2004 in so far as they apply in relation to England, as described in paragraph 3 above (regulation 41); provide that where the commission of an offence thereunder is due to the act or default of some other person that other person is guilty of the offence (regulation 42); provide that in proceedings for an offence thereunder it is a defence for the accused to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence (regulation 43); provide that where an offence thereunder which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the body corporate or a person purporting to act as such he as well as the body corporate is deemed to be guilty of that offence and may be proceeded against and punished accordingly (regulation 44); provide that where an offence thereunder which has been committed by a Scottish partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner he as well as the partnership is deemed to be guilty of that offence and may be proceeded against and punished accordingly (regulation 45); provide for the protection of officers acting in good faith (regulation 46); provide for the service of documents (regulation 47); and provide for the revocation of specified instruments to the extent specified (regulation 48). A full Regulatory Impact Assessment on the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business has been prepared and placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Food Hygiene Implementation Division of the Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH.

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