UK Offence Report

23 A person who contravenes or fails to comply with— a any paragraph of regulations 9 to 13, 15 to 19, or…

regulation 23 of The Plant Protection Products Regulations 2011

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

23 A person who contravenes or fails to comply with— a any paragraph of regulations 9 to 13, 15 to 19, or 22; b regulation 14(1) or 14(3); c regulation 20(1), 20(3), 20(4) or 20(5); d regulation 21(1); e Article 56(1); f Article 56(4); or g the second sentence of Article 62(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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (intentionally, recklessly) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses intentionally, recklessly; which element that governs was not determined.

The defence, as drafted

er than in relation to regulation 15(2), 22(1)(a) or 22(2), it is a defence for the person charged to prove that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. 2 A person is to be taken to have established the defence provided by paragraph (1) if they prove— a that they acted under instructions given to

What would breach regulation 23?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Plant Protection Products Regulations 2011, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown 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 (2011-09-24); 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
20 August 2011
In force from
24 September 2011
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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, as respects Great Britain and as respects the United Kingdom in relation to regulation 4, provide for the enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC (“Regulation 1107/2009”) and of certain provisions of these Regulations. Regulation 1107/2009 repeals Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (OJ L 230, 19. 8. 1991, p. 1.), which prohibited the placing on the market and use of plant protection products containing certain active substances. Regulation 1107/2009 lays down harmonised rules for the approval of active substances and the placing on the market of plant protection products and its main purpose is to ensure a high level of protection of both human and animal health and the environment and at the same time to safeguard the competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union. Regulation 1 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations as they have effect in relation to England and Wales and to publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years thereafter. Following each review the Secretary of State will decide whether the Regulations, as they have effect in relation to England and Wales, should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. The terms and expressions used in these Regulations are defined in regulation 2 Regulation 3 provides that the Secretary of State, in relation to England and Wales, and the Scottish Ministers, in relation to Scotland, are designated as the competent authority for the purposes of Article 75(1) of Regulation 1107/2009. Regulation 4 provides that the Secretary of State is the co-ordinating national authority for the purposes of Article 75(2) of Regulation 1107/2009. Regulation 5 provides for emergency measures to be taken by the Secretary of State and the Scottish Ministers in circumstances where treated seeds are likely to constitute a serious risk to human or animal health or to the environment. Regulation 6 provides that these Regulations are enforced by the Secretary of State in England, the Welsh Ministers in Wales and the Scottish Ministers in Scotland. Regulations 7 and 8 provide for persons to be authorised to exercise the powers set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations and for such persons to provide evidence of their authorisation on request. Regulations 9 to 20 make provision for the enforcement of Regulation 1107/2009 by identifying who is responsible for complying with the requirements and prohibitions in that Regulation, and regulation 14 gives effect to Schedule 2 (Adjuvants). Regulations 21 and 22 provide for the enforcement of these Regulations by creating a requirement to comply with notices issued under these Regulations, and a requirement and prohibitions in relation to preventing an authorised person from performing his or her functions under these Regulations. Regulation 23 creates the criminal offence for contravention of or failure to comply with regulations 9 to 22, and Articles 56(1), 56(4) and Article 62(2). Regulation 24 makes provision in relation to offences by bodies corporate. Regulation 25 provides, in relation to certain regulations, the defence of having taken all reasonable precautions and having exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. Regulation 26 sets out the penalties for offences under these Regulations. Regulation 27 gives effect to Schedule 3 (Service of documents). Regulation 28 provides that the Scottish Ministers may make agency agreements with the Secretary of State. Regulation 29 describes the circumstances in which an authorised person may perform his or her function in relation to land in which there is a Crown interest or a Duchy interest. Regulation 30 provides that the Plant Protection Products Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/1345) (“the Regulations”) and the Plant Protection Products (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (S.S.I. 2005/331)(“the Scottish Regulations”) are saved for applications set out in Article 80(5) of Regulation 1107/2009 and that approvals granted under either of those Regulations, or under the Control of Pesticide Regulations (S.I. 1986/1510) (“the 1986 Regulations”) are deemed granted under Regulation 1107/2009. It also provides that plant protection approvals under the 1986 Regulations, the Regulations or the Scottish Regulations and valid parallel trade approvals that are valid on the date these Regulations come into force are deemed to be authorised in accordance with Regulation 1107/2009. Regulation 31 provides for the amendments and revocations set out in Schedules 4 and 5 respectively. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs to business and the voluntary sector has also been prepared. Copies of both documents have been placed in the library of each House of Parliament and are available on DEFRA’s website (www.defra.gov.uk). A copy of the regulatory impact assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Plant Protection Products (Fees) Regulations 2011 and to these Regulations and is available alongside the instrument on the legislation website (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/).

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 0.92.

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