UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 3(1) of The Flavourings in Food (England) Regulations 2010 (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 A person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the EU provisions specified in paragraph (2) as read with the transitional arrangements contained in Article

30 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 contravenes or fails to comply with any of the EU provisions specified in paragraph (2) as read with the transitional arrangements contained in Article 30.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Flavourings in Food (England) Regulations 2010, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2011-01-20); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
23 November 2010
In force from
20 January 2011
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 provide for the execution and enforcement in England of Regulation (EC) No.1334/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring properties for use in and on foods and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1601/91, Regulations (EC) No.2232/96 and (EC) No. 110/2008 and Directive 2000/13/EC (OJ No. L354, 31.12.2008, p.34) (“the EU Regulation”). These Regulations provide that it is an offence to contravene the requirements of the EU Regulation by — using flavourings or food ingredients with flavouring properties in or on foods if they pose a risk to the health of consumers or if their use misleads consumers (regulation 3(2)(a)); placing on the market any flavouring or food ingredient with flavouring properties or food in which they are present if their use does not comply with the EU Regulation (regulation 3(2)(b)); adding certain proscribed substances to food (regulation 3(2)(c)); using certain proscribed source materials for the production of flavourings or food ingredients with flavouring properties, or using certain specified source materials other than in accordance with prescribed conditions (regulation 3(2)(d)); placing on the market or using certain specified flavourings or source materials unless they are included in the authorised EU list (regulation 3(2)(e)); labelling flavourings not intended for sale to the final consumer other than in accordance with the conditions set out in the EU Regulation (regulation 3(2)(f)); labelling flavourings that are intended for sale to the final consumer other than in accordance with the conditions set out in the EU Regulation (regulation 3(2)(g)); and failing to provide certain specified information when required (regulation 3(2)(h)). These Regulations also — designate the authorities having the duty to enforce these Regulations and the EU Regulation (regulation 4); apply certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 for the purposes of these Regulations (regulation 5); provide that where food does not comply with the EU Regulation such that it would be an offence under these Regulations to place it on the market, it is to be treated as failing to comply with food safety requirements for the purposes of seizure and destruction under section 9 of the 1990 Act (regulation 6); and make amendments to the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (regulation 7). 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 Food Additives branch of 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

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