UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Honey (England) Regulations 2015

the instrument as a whole of The Honey (England) Regulations 2015

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Honey (England) Regulations 2015.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
30 May 2015
In force from
24 June 2015
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, which apply in England, implement Council Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey (OJ No L 10, 12.1.2002, p 47). They revoke and replace the Honey (England) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2243). The Regulations regulate the use of the names “honey” (regulation 6), “blossom honey” and “nectar honey” (regulation 7), “honeydew honey” (regulation 8), “comb honey” (regulation 9), “chunk honey” and “cut comb in honey” (regulation 10), “drained honey” (regulation 11), “extracted honey” (regulation 12), “pressed honey” (regulation 13), “filtered honey” (regulation 14) and “baker’s honey” (regulation 15). Regulation 16 and Schedule 1 prescribe compositional criteria with which such products must comply when placed on the market as honey and when used as honey in a product intended for human consumption. Regulation 17 contains additional labelling provisions. Regulation 18 imposes an obligation on food authorities to enforce the Regulations. Regulation 19 and Schedule 2 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 the Regulations. The provisions, as applied, make the failure to comply with an improvement notice an offence. As well as revoking the Honey (England) Regulations 2003, regulation 20 revokes the Honey (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2005 (S.I 2005/1920) and omits specified provisions of the Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855) relating to the Honey (England) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 and Schedule 3 amend the Food Information Regulations 2014. Regulation 22 makes a transitional provision in respect of food placed on the market or labelled before 24th June 2015, prohibiting an improvement notice from being served in relation to such food if it would have been compliant with the Honey (England) Regulations 2003. Regulation 23 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations 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. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen. The Explanatory Memorandum for the Regulations, to which a Transposition Note is attached, is published alongside the Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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