UK Offence Report

Obstruction of authorised officers

regulation 23(2) of The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008

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 is guilty of an offence if, in giving any information which is required of him under paragraph (1)(c), he makes any statement which he knows to be false in

a material particular.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 23(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 Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
8 July 2008
In force from
1 October 2008
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 give cancellation rights in respect of a contract for goods or services made during a visit by a trader to a consumer’s home or place of work or on an excursion organised by the trader. They revoke the Cancellation of Contracts Concluded away from Business Premises Regulations 1987 and re-implement Council Directive 85/577/EEC (“the Directive”) to protect the consumer in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises. The Directive provides cancellation rights for contracts made in similar circumstances during an unsolicited visit by a trader. Regulations 5 and 6 set out the circumstances in which the consumer has a right to cancel the contract. The Regulations do not apply to excepted contracts set out in Schedule 3. Regulation 7 provides for the right to cancel a contract and sets out the requirements of a notice of the right to cancel. Schedule 4 sets out the information to be contained in a notice of the right to cancel including a form of cancellation notice for use by the consumer in cancelling the contract. Regulation 8 sets out the requirements for a consumer wishing to exercise his right to cancel the contract. Regulation 9 provides for payment to be made in respect of certain contracts when goods or services are received before cancellation. Regulations 10, 12, 13 and 14 provide for the consequences of cancellation and the obligations and rights of the parties in these circumstances. Regulation 11 provides for the automatic cancellation of a consumer credit agreement entered into at the same time as a contract for goods or services when the contract for goods or services is cancelled. Regulation 15 protects the rights of consumers by providing that any term in a contract that is inconsistent with a provision for the protection of a consumer under the Regulations is void. Regulations 17 to 23 relate to enforcement of these Regulations. Regulation 17 provides that it is an offence for a trader to enter a contract to which these Regulations apply without complying with the requirements of regulation 7 relating to the service of notice of the right to cancel. A person guilty of such an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to £5,000. A transposition note and an impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs to business and the voluntary sector are available from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET or on the BERR website (www.berr.gov.uk). They are also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the Regulations on the OPSI website. Copies of the impact assessment and transposition note have also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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