UK Offence Report

6 A person is guilty of an offence if he— a fails to comply with regulation 4; b intentionally obstructs any…

regulation 6 of The Salmonella in Broiler Flocks (Survey Powers) (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

6 A person is guilty of an offence if he—

a fails to comply with regulation 4;

b intentionally obstructs any person acting in the execution of these Regulations;

c gives any information that he knows to be false or misleading to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations; or

d otherwise than as specified in paragraph (a), fails without reasonable excuse—

i to give any assistance or information that any person acting in the execution of these Regulations may require him to give; or

ii to produce any record that any person acting in the execution of these Regulations may require him to produce, for the performance of that person’s functions under these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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).

“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: intentionally; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

s; or d otherwise than as specified in paragraph (a), fails without reasonable excuse— i to give any assistance or information that any person acting in the execution of these Regulations may require him to give; or ii to produce any record that any person acting in the execution of these Regulations may require him to produce, for the perform

What would breach regulation 6?

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 Salmonella in Broiler Flocks (Survey Powers) (England) Regulations 2006.
  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
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 (2006-04-12); 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
20 March 2006
In force from
12 April 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations revoke and replace the Salmonella in Broiler Flocks (Survey Powers) (England) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/2927). They provide a period of 7 days for the occupier or person in charge of a holding to send the requested information to the Secretary of State (regulation 4). The revoked Regulations provided for information to be supplied to the Secretary of State upon request. These Regulations provide a power of entry to inspectors to undertake sampling to detect the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in broiler chickens as required by Commission Decision 2005/636/EC concerning a financial contribution by the Community towards a baseline survey on the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in broiler flocks of Gallus gallus to be carried out in the Member States. Regulation 3 designates the Secretary of State as the competent authority for the purposes of the Commission Decision. Regulation 4 provides that the occupier or person in charge of a holding must, within 7 days of a request, send information to the Secretary of State to assist her with the selection of holdings to be included in the survey. Regulation 5 provides inspectors with various powers including a power of entry and power to take samples of faecal material, to examine records and to make inquiries of any person. Regulation 6 creates offences for obstructing an inspector exercising his powers under these Regulations and regulation 7 sets out the applicable penalties. Regulation 9 provides that these Regulations shall be enforced by the local authority. A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as they have no impact on the costs of business.

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