UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 6(1) of The Ceramic Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2006 (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 A person who contravenes

a provision of regulation 3(3) or 4(1) or (3) is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 a provision of regulation 3(3) or 4(1) or (3).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Ceramic Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2006, 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
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
24 April 2006
In force from
20 May 2006
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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 apply to ceramic articles which are intended to come into contact with food. They set limits on the amount of lead and cadmium which may be transferred from such articles together with requirements for testing for such transfer (migration) and require ceramic articles to be accompanied at the marketing stages by certificates of compliance. These Regulations implement Council Directive 84/500/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to ceramic articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (O.J. L.277 of 20.10.84 p.12) as amended by Commission Directive 2005/31/EC regarding a declaration of compliance and performance criteria of the analytical method for ceramic articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (O.J. L.110 of 30.4.05 p.36). The former Directive was previously implemented by the Ceramic Ware (Safety) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988/1647) which these Regulations revoke in respect of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The 1988 Regulations applied to the United Kingdom. These Regulations apply to England. Corresponding Regulations are being made for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Regulation 2 defines “ceramic article”. Regulation 3 and Schedule 1 limit the quantities of lead and cadmium which may be transferred by a ceramic article and Schedule 2 sets out how tests for such transfer (migration) are to be carried out. Regulation 4 requires a written declaration of compliance to accompany a ceramic article or articles not yet in contact with food at all marketing stages up to the retail stage. The details of the declaration are set out in Schedule 3. The regulation also requires a manufacturer, or importer into the Community, to keep appropriate documentation to show that the article or articles comply with the requirements of Schedule 1. Regulation 5 provides that the Regulations are to be enforced by food authorities and port health authorities in their respective areas or districts. Regulation 6 sets out the penalties for failure to comply with the Regulations and the defences that are available. Regulation 7 sets out the provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 which are applied for the purposes of the Regulations. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on costs to business is available from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET. Copies of a transposition note relating to these Regulations have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are also available to the public from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, 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