UK Offence Report

Movement of a controlled wine-sector product

regulation 12(3) of The Wine Regulations 2009 (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

3 Any person who fails to comply with an undertaking given for the purposes of regulation 9(2) 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

6 In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it is a defence for the person charged to prove that that person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence, either by that person or by someone under that person’s direction or control.

What would breach regulation 12(3)?

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with an undertaking given for the purposes of regulation 9(2).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Wine Regulations 2009, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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 9887 — 09887 - Triable either way offences under Wine Regulations 2009. 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
25 February 2009
In force from
30 March 2009
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 Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001, as amended, in so far as those Regulations apply in England. The Regulations reflect those changes in the Community wine regime coming into force on 1st August 2008 made by— Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 on the common organisation of the market in wine; Commission Regulation (EC) No 555/2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 on the common organisation of the market in wine as regards support programmes, trade with third countries, production potential and on controls in the wine sector (OJ No L170, 30.6.2008, p. 1). The main change is that restrictions on the types of vine that may be used for wine-making are reduced. As under the revoked Regulations, these Regulations enforce the Community provisions set out in regulation 2. They make provision for the establishment of organoleptic panels for the assessment of wines. They provide for enforcement mechanisms, including powers of inspectors to serve notices controlling movements of wines not complying with the Regulations. They are enforced by the local authority, the Food Standards Agency, the Secretary of State or Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs as set out in regulation 3. Breach of these Regulations is an offence punishable— a for obstruction of an authorised officer, with a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale on summary conviction; b for breach of the provisions in regulation 14(2), with a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale on summary conviction; c for all other provisions, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum on summary conviction, or an unlimited fine for conviction on indictment. This instrument implements the first phase of the reform of the Community wine regime, an impact assessment has been prepared and is available at www.defra.co.uk.

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