UK Offence Report

Obstruction of an officer

regulation 5(1) of The Cat and Dog Fur (Control of Import, Export and Placing on the Market) 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

1 It is an offence for

a person (“P”)—

a intentionally to obstruct an officer in the exercise of any power granted under these Regulations;

b intentionally to fail to comply with any requirement properly imposed on P by an officer in the exercise of any such power;

c to fail, without reasonable excuse, to give an officer any assistance or information which the officer may reasonably require of P for the purpose of exercising any such power; or

d in giving to an officer any information which P has been required to give an officer exercising any such power, to make any statement which P knows to be false or misleading 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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

by an officer in the exercise of any such power; c to fail, without reasonable excuse, to give an officer any assistance or information which the officer may reasonably require of P for the purpose of exercising any such power; or d in giving to an officer any information which P has been required to give an officer exercising any such power,

What would breach regulation 5(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Cat and Dog Fur (Control of Import, Export and Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008.
  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
£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
26 October 2008
In force from
31 December 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 implement in the United Kingdom Regulation (EC) No 1523/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 (the “EC Regulation”) which prohibits the import, export and placing on the market of cat and dog fur. Article 3 of the EC Regulation prohibits the import, export and placing on the market of cat and dog fur. Article 8 of the EC Regulation states that Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of Article 3 of the EC Regulation and that the penalties provided for shall be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. The other provisions of the EC Regulation are directly applicable in the United Kingdom and do not need to be transposed. Regulation 2 implements Article 8 of the EC Regulation by making contravention of Article 3 of the EC Regulation a criminal offence, punishable on indictment with a maximum penalty of £75,000 and on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently £5,000). Regulation 3(1) imposes a duty on local weights and measures authorities (in Great Britain) and district councils (in Northern Ireland) to enforce regulation 2 but regulation 3(2) excludes from this duty the enforcement of the Regulations within areas where the goods are under the supervision of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, in which areas enforcement will be the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Regulation 3(3) gives powers to local weights and measures authorities (in Great Britain) and district councils (in Northern Ireland) to inspect and seize goods suspected to be cat and dog fur for the purposes of enforcing regulation 2. No such powers are conferred on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs since all necessary powers are already granted by the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. Regulation 4 grants powers to local weights and measures authorities (in Great Britain) and district councils (in Northern Ireland) to apply to Court for forfeiture orders in respect of goods which contravene the prohibition in regulation 2. No such powers are conferred on officers of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs since all necessary powers are already granted by the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. Regulation 5 makes it a criminal offence (carrying a maximum penalty of a fine at level 3 on the standard scale) for a person intentionally to obstruct or fail to co-operate with an officer exercising powers granted under regulation 4. Data (including personal data) which needs to be transferred between enforcement authorities and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the purposes of enforcing these Regulations will be transferred through existing powers conferred by section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. A full Impact Assessment has been carried out and a copy has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament, together with a transposition note. Copies may be obtained from the Trade Policy Unit of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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