UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 25(1) of The Common Agricultural Policy (Control and Enforcement, Cross-Compliance, Scrutiny of Transactions and Appeals) 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

1 It is an offence for any person— a to fail to comply with Article 82(1) of the Horizontal Regulation (which relates to the supply of commercial documents and additional information); b to fail to comply with a requirement under Article 82(2) of the Horizontal Regulation (which relates to the supply of extracts or copies of commercial documents); c to fail to comply with a requirement under the third sub-paragraph of Article 82(3) of the Horizontal Regulation (which enables the determination of the place and time at which an undertaking must, in certain circumstances, make available for inspection commercial documents required for scrutiny pursuant to Articles 79 to 90 of that Regulation); d intentionally to obstruct an authorised person (or a person accompanying the authorised person and acting under the authorised person’s instructions) acting in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 21 or 22 or by virtue of regulation 24; or e to fail to comply with a request made under regulation 23.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

What would breach regulation 25(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Common Agricultural Policy (Control and Enforcement, Cross-Compliance, Scrutiny of Transactions and Appeals) Regulations 2014.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
9 December 2014
In force from
1 January 2015
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 make provision for the implementation in England and, for certain purposes, the United Kingdom, of the European Regulations (as defined in regulation 2(1)) relating to the administration of the common agricultural policy (“the CAP”) of the European Union. Except as otherwise stated, these Regulations apply in England only. Any reference in this Note to a Regulation is a reference to that EU Regulation as defined in regulation 2(1). Part 2 sets out provisions on control and enforcement in relation to direct payments to farmers and rural development payments. Regulations 3 and 4 extend to the United Kingdom. Regulation 3 specifies which competent authority may determine a single application for direct payments and regulation 4 permits competent authorities to enter into agency arrangements with each other. Regulation 5 specifies the final date for submission of a single application, aid application or payment claim. Regulation 6 prescribes the minimum size of qualifying agricultural parcel. Regulation 7 provides that a repayment due from a beneficiary is recoverable as a debt and regulation 8 provides for the rate of interest on that repayment. Regulation 9(1), which extends to the United Kingdom, enables set-off between sums due to competent authorities and direct payments due to a farmer. Regulation 9(2) enables set-off between sums due to and from a beneficiary. Regulations 10 and 11 confer powers of entry and inspection for enforcement purposes. Regulation 13 provides for the period in which the transferee of a holding must inform the Secretary of State of the transfer and request payment. Regulation 14 confers on the Secretary of State and others the power to determine that a rural development beneficiary has breached the terms of a commitment or other requirement. Regulation 15 confers powers of recovery and other powers on the Secretary of State and others where there has been such a determination. Regulation 16 creates offences and penalties. Part 3 implements Articles 91 to 101 (cross-compliance) of the Horizontal Regulation, and associated Regulations, and sets out further requirements on beneficiaries relating to the maintenance of standards for good agricultural and environmental condition (Schedule 2). Schedule 3 lists exceptions from those requirements. These provisions replace the Agriculture (Cross compliance) (No. 2) Regulations (S.I. 2009/3365) which are revoked (Schedule 5). Part 4, which extends to the United Kingdom, implements Articles 79 to 88 of the Horizontal Regulation and relates to the scrutiny of commercial documents and transactions financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (“EAGF”), excluding payments granted directly to farmers under the Direct Payments Regulation. These provisions replace the Common Agricultural Policy (Protection of Community Arrangements) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/314) which are revoked (Schedule 5). Regulations 21 and 22 confer powers of entry and inspection for enforcement purposes. Regulation 24 further provides for the powers of authorised persons and the competent authority in relation to scrutiny. Regulation 25 creates offences and penalties. Regulation 28 provides for a due diligence defence. Regulation 29 confers a power on the competent authority to recover any money paid by or payable to the authority in relation to a relevant transaction. Part 5 provides for appeals to the Secretary of State in respect of decisions made under the European Regulations in relation to the EAGF (“Pillar 1 decisions”) and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (“Pillar 2 decisions”) and determinations under regulation 14. Regulation 32(4) confers a power on the Secretary of State to charge an appeal fee of £100 if there is no sum in dispute or it is less than £2,000, £250 if it is £2,000 or more up to £10,000, or £450 if it exceeds £10,000 (regulation 32(5) and Schedule 4). The £250 and £450 fees are new in relation to Pillar 1 decisions. All the fees are new in relation to Pillar 2 decisions. Part 6 provides for the service of notices (regulation 33), the calculation of the exchange rate for amounts of aid expressed in euro (regulation 34, which extends to the United Kingdom) revocations and saving provisions (regulation 35 and Schedule 5) and the review of these Regulations (regulation 36). An evidence summary on the implementation of changes to cross-compliance in England was published on 16th June 2014. It is available on the following website, www.gov.uk/government/cross-compliance-evidence-summary.pdf, or from the Common Agricultural Policy direct payments team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. The administration and enforcement measures in this instrument are, for the most part, a continuation of existing measures which will not have any new or additional impact on businesses, charities or voluntary sector. An impact assessment has therefore not been prepared.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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