UK Offence Report

Offences and Penalties

regulation 16(1) of The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2008 (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 Any person who —

a contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 3(1), 4(1), 5(1), 12(2) to (5) or 14(1);

b intentionally obstructs any person acting in the execution of Regulation 1895/2005 or these Regulations;

c contravenes regulation 12(6), 14(3) or 21(3) or, without reasonable excuse, otherwise fails to give to any person acting in the execution of Regulation 1895/2005 or these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require; or

d in purported compliance with any requirement mentioned in sub-paragraph (c), knowingly or recklessly supplies information that is false or misleading in any material particular, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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

The defence, as drafted

lations; c contravenes regulation 12(6), 14(3) or 21(3) or, without reasonable excuse, otherwise fails to give to any person acting in the execution of Regulation 1895/2005 or these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require; or d in purported compliance with any requirement mentioned in sub-paragraph (c

What would breach regulation 16(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 Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 8912 — 08912 - Triable either way offences under Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2008. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
31 March 2008
In force from
1 May 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, which apply in relation to England only, revoke the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) (No.2) Regulations 2006,( S.I. 2006/2687), and re-enact those Regulations with certain changes. The main changes are — implementation of the further amendments made to Commission Directive 2002/72/EC and to Council Directive 85/572/EEC by Commission Directive 2007/19/EC (corrected version at OJ No. L 97, 12.4.2007, p.50) (“the new Commission Directive”), which introduces new specifications and restrictions relating to plastic multi-layer materials and articles and to substances used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles in contact with food in general, and amends certain specifications relating to migration testing in fatty foods; and provision that a reference in these Regulations to an Annex to Commission Directive 2002/72/EC is to be construed as a reference to that Annex as it may be amended from time to time. The Regulations in Part 2 — prohibit specified activities in relation to any plastic material or article (as defined in regulation 2) which fails to meet the appropriate required standards set out in the Regulations (regulation 3); prohibit the use of monomers and additives in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles other than in accordance with specified conditions (regulation 4 and Schedule 1 in the case of monomers and regulation 5 and Schedule 1 in the case of additives); specify the required standards relating to the capability of a monomer or an additive to confer its constituents to food (regulation 6 for monomers and regulation 7 for additives); specify the required standard for products obtained by bacterial fermentation (regulation 8); specify the required standard relating to overall migration limits from plastic materials or articles to food (regulation 9); specify the required standards relating to the migration of primary aromatic amines from plastic materials or articles to food (regulation 10); specify the required standard relating to plastic multi-layer materials and articles (regulation 11); provide for the execution and enforcement of Regulation 1895/2005 on the restriction of use of certain epoxy derivatives in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (OJ No. L302, 19.11.2005, p.28), which contains Community provisions relating to the epoxy derivatives known as BADGE, BFDGE and NOGE (regulation 12); specify the methods for determining the capability of a plastic material or article to transfer its constituents to food, and for detecting the presence of any such constituents in food (regulation 13 and Schedules 2 & 3); provide that prior to the retail stage plastic materials and articles must be accompanied by certain specified written information, including a declaration of legislative compliance (regulation 14 and Schedule 4). The Regulations in Part 3 — designate food authorities and port health authorities as the enforcement authorities in their respective areas or districts (regulation 15); specify the offences that may be committed under these Regulations and set out the maximum penalties on conviction (regulation 16); provide that individuals responsible for the actions of a corporate body or Scottish partnership may be co-prosecuted for offences by that body or partnership (regulation 17); specify a time limit for commencing a prosecution (regulation 18); provide for the prosecution of a person who causes the commission of an offence by another person, whether or not proceedings are taken against the original offender (regulation 19); provide for a defence of diligence to offences under these Regulations (regulation 20); provide a defence relating to the sale of glass jars that contain certain foods for infants and young children and that have been sealed with a PVC gasket containing epoxidised soybean oil (regulation 21); provide for transitional defences in relation to certain plastic materials or articles that have already been manufactured or put into circulation in advance of a change in the law that would otherwise have made their manufacture or circulation unlawful (regulation 22); specify the procedure to be followed when sending a sample for analysis (regulation 23); make provision for a reference sample to be analysed by the Laboratory for the Government Chemist (regulation 24). Part 4 of the Regulations contains provisions relating to the interim period between an application to the European Food Safety Authority for the authorisation of a new additive and the final decision by that Authority (regulation 25). The principal Directives implemented by these Regulations are — Council Directive 82/711/EEC (OJ No. L297, 23,10,1982, p.26) laying down the basic rules necessary for testing migration of the constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, as amended by Commission Directives 93/8/EEC (OJ No. L90, 14.4.1993, p.22) and 97/48/EC (OJ No. L222, 12.8.1997, p.10); Council Directive 85/572/EEC laying down the list of simulants to be used for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No. L372, 31.12.1985, p.14), as amended by the new Commission Directive; Commission Directive 2002/72/EC (OJ No. L220, 15.8.2002, p.18) relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, as amended by Commission Directives 2004/1/EC (OJ No. L7, 13.1.2004, p.45), 2004/19/EC (OJ No. L71, 10.3.2004, p.8) and 2005/79/EC (OJ No. L302, 19.11.2005, p.35), and the new Commission Directive. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Chemical Safety Division of the Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH, and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website.

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