UK Offence Report

Penalty for breach of the EU Regulation

regulation 3(1) of The Seal Products Regulations 2010

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 A person who breaches Article

3 of the EU Regulation is guilty of an offence and is liable—

a on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; and

b on conviction on indictment, to

a fine not exceeding £75,000.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 3(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person breaches Article 3 of the EU Regulation.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Seal Products Regulations 2010.

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

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
15 August 2010
In force from
20 August 2010
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 Regulation (EC) No. 1007/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on trade in seal products of 16 September 2009 as amended from time to time (“the EU Regulation”). In accordance with the EU Regulation Article 3, the placing on the market of seal products is allowed only if the seal products result from hunts traditionally conducted by Innuit and other indigenous communities and contribute to their subsistence. These conditions apply at the time or point of import for imported products. The placing on the market of seal products is also allowed where the seal products result from by-products of hunting that is conducted for the sole purpose of the sustainable management of marine resources. Such placing on the market is only allowed on a not-for-profit basis. The nature and quantity of the seal products must not be such as to indicate that they are being placed on the market for commercial reasons (Article 3(2)(b) of the EU Regulation). The import of seal products is allowed only where it is of an occasional nature and consists exclusively of goods for the personal use of travellers or their families. The nature and quantity of such goods must not be such as to indicate that they are being imported for commercial reasons (Article 3(2)(a)). No powers of enforcement (including investigation, obstruction of an officer, forfeiture and destruction of goods) have been included in this instrument since all the necessary powers are already granted by the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Animal Welfare Core Team of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 9 Millbank, London SW1P 3JR.

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.

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