UK Offence Report

2 A person shall be guilty of an offence if he— a dishonestly alters a certificate; or b dishonestly creates…

article 12(2) of The Plant Health (Wood Packaging Material Marking) (Forestry) Order 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

2 A person shall be guilty of an offence if he—

a dishonestly alters

a certificate; or

b dishonestly creates an instrument which purports to be

a certificate.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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

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

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

What would breach article 12(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Plant Health (Wood Packaging Material Marking) (Forestry) Order 2006.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2006-11-06); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
9 October 2006
In force from
6 November 2006
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order implements International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 of March 2002 on Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade, prepared by the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Under the Order, no person may: apply an ISPM No. 15 mark to any wood packaging material except as authorised by a certificate issued under the Order; apply any mark other than an ISPM No. 15 mark to wood packaging material for the purpose of indicating that it has been subject to an approved measure; or, without the authorisation of the Commissioners, manufacture, remanufacture, recycle or repair any wood without first removing any existing ISPM No. 15 mark (article 3). Articles 4 to 8 provide procedures for applications for certificates, renewal of certificates and reassessment, including the fees payable in respect of those applications (which are specified in Schedule 1), and for the issue and validity of certificates. Inspectors have powers to enter premises reasonably believed to be used for the manufacture, collection, storage, trade, transportation or importation of wood packaging material and to carry out certain investigations for the purpose of ascertaining whether an approved measure has been properly carried out on wood packaging material to which an ISPM No. 15 mark has been applied, or for any other purpose of this Order, including checking compliance with it (article 9). An inspector may remove, or require another person to remove, a mark if he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that it has been applied to wood packaging material other than in accordance with this Order (article 9(4)). An inspector may also seize items he knows or suspects were used to apply a mark to wood packaging material other than in accordance with this Order, or were intended to be so used, and provision is made for claims to be made against seizure, referral to the Court and destruction of seized items (article 10). The Commissioners may, orally or in writing, withdraw a certificate issued under this Order if, in their opinion, a wood packaging material manufacturer to whom a certificate has been issued has not properly carried out an approved measure to which the certificate relates or has not complied with any provision of this Order (article 11). It is an offence: to contravene any of the provisions of article 3; to contravene a notice served under article 10(3) prohibiting the movement of seized items; intentionally to obstruct an inspector in the exercise of his powers given by this Order; knowingly or recklessly to make a false statement or intentionally to fail to disclose any material information for the purposes of procuring the issue of a certificate under this Order; to dishonestly alter a certificate; or to dishonestly create an instrument which purports to be a certificate (article 12). A person found guilty of an offence under the Order is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale (article 12(8)). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Plant Health Service of the Forestry Commission, Silvan House, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 7AT.

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