UK Offence Report

The Spirit Drinks Regulations 2008

paragraph 54 of SCHEDULE 7 of The Food Information Regulations 2014

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

54 In Part

2 of Schedule 2 (provisions of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks contravention of which is an offence), in the second column of the entry in the table relating to Article 9(9) of Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, for “Directive 2000/13/EC” until “food enzymes” substitute “Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 54 of SCHEDULE 7?

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 Food Information Regulations 2014, 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
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

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
14 July 2014
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E

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 make provision to enforce, in England, certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (OJ No L 304, 22.11.2011, p 18) (“FIC”). They also implement, in England, certain provisions of Article 6 of Directive 1999/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning foods and food ingredients treated with ionising radiation (OJ No L 66, 13.3.1999, p 16) and the second paragraph of subparagraph 1 of Article 3 of Directive 2000/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption (OJ No L 197, 3.8.2000, p 19). Regulation 3 contains a derogation relating to milk or milk products presented in a glass bottle intended for reuse. Regulation 4 and Schedule 2 provide a derogation relating to the use of a minced meat designation for minced meat that does not comply with the requirements laid down in point 1 of Part B of Annex VI to FIC. Regulation 5 enables particulars relating to an allergenic substance or product in a non-prepacked food to be made available (subject to the provisions of the regulation) using any means that a food business operator chooses. The required particulars must be made available under FIC but can be made available using the means provided for in FIC or in accordance with the provisions of regulation 5. Regulation 6 requires the name of the food to be provided in the case of certain non-prepacked foods and foods prepacked for direct sale. Regulation 7 requires a quantitative indication of the meat content to be given in the case of certain products. Those particulars must be given in one of the ways specified in regulations 6(4) (in the case of the name of the food) and 7(5) (in the case of the meat content indication). The provisions of regulations 6(4) and 7(5) do not apply to an offer for sale made by means of distance communication. Article 14(2) of FIC (as read with other relevant provisions of FIC) applies in the case of such an offer. Regulation 1(9) provides for regulations 5, 6 and 7 to cease to have effect on 13th December 2021. Regulation 8 requires certain information to be provided when irradiated food products or food products containing an irradiated ingredient are sold in bulk and when irradiated ingredients are used in certain prepacked food products. Regulation 9 imposes an obligation on food authorities and port health authorities to enforce the Regulations and empowers other district councils (which are not defined as food authorities for this purpose) to enforce certain allergen-related provisions. Regulation 10 makes it an offence to fail to comply with specified provisions of FIC and the allergen-related requirement in regulation 5(5). Regulation 11 provides for the punishment of that offence. Regulation 12 and Schedule 4 apply certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (1990 c. 16), with modifications. This includes the application (with modifications) of section 10(1), enabling an improvement notice to be served requiring compliance with specified provisions of FIC (except to the extent that some of the provisions apply to the mandatory particular relating to net quantity or quantity in general) or with specified provisions of regulations 5 to 8. The provisions, as applied, make the failure to comply with an improvement notice an offence. Regulation 13 and entry 1 of the table in Part 1 of Schedule 6 revoke most of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1499) on 13th December 2014 so far as those Regulations apply to England. Regulation 13 and entry 1 of the table in Part 2 of Schedule 6 revoke the remainder of the provisions in the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (relating to alcohol-related terms, cream and cheese) on 13th December 2018 so far as those Regulations apply to England. Regulation 13 and Schedule 6 also revoke other relevant statutory instruments. With some exceptions, the revocations have the same territorial extent and application as the statutory instruments being revoked. Regulation 14 and Schedule 7 amend the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, so far as those Regulations apply to England, during the period before those Regulations are revoked (as described above). They make amendments to other statutory instruments to take account of the repeal and replacement of the relevant EU legislation and the revocation of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996. With some exceptions, the amendments have the same territorial extent and application as the statutory instruments being amended. Regulation 14 and Part 1 of Schedule 7 also amend the Food (Lot Marking) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1502), in their application to England, to take account of the repeal and replacement of Council Directive 89/396/EEC (OJ No L 186, 30.6.1989, p 21) by Directive 2011/91/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on indications or marks identifying the lot to which a foodstuff belongs (OJ No L 334, 16.12.2011, p 1). Part 2 of Schedule 7 contains the provision implementing the second paragraph of subparagraph 1 of Article 3 of Directive 2000/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (mentioned above). Regulation 15 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations from time to time and to publish a report before 13th December 2019 and within every five years after that. Following the first review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether regulations 5, 6 and 7, and regulation 12 and Schedule 4 so far as they relate to those regulations, should be allowed to expire as regulation 1(9) provides, be revoked early, or to continue in force with or without amendment. A further instrument would be needed to continue regulations 5, 6 and 7, and regulation 12 and Schedule 4 so far as they relate to those regulations, in force with or without amendment or to revoke them early. It will also fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the remainder of these Regulations should remain as it is, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke or amend the remainder of these Regulations. A full impact assessment of the effect these Regulations will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Food Policy Unit, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the Regulations on 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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