UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 11(1) of The Single Common Market Organisation (Emergency Aid for Milk Producers) 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

1 It is an offence for any person (“A”) to—

a intentionally obstruct any person acting in the execution of these Regulations (“B”);

b without reasonable cause, proof of which lies with A, fail to give B any assistance or information that B may reasonably require under these Regulations;

c knowingly or recklessly furnish to B any information that is false or misleading in any material particular.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

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: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 11(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 Single Common Market Organisation (Emergency Aid for Milk Producers) Regulations 2015.
  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
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
10 November 2015
In force from
16 November 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 make provision for the implementation of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1853 providing for temporary exceptional aid to farmers in the livestock sectors (OJ No L 271, 16.10.2015, p 25). Regulation 3 requires the Secretary of State to make payments to milk producers based on the amount of milk and milk equivalents they produced in the 2014-2015 milk quota year. Regulation 4 requires the Secretary of State to make an additional payment to milk producers in Northern Ireland. Regulation 5 prevents the Secretary of State paying out amounts less than €108.33. Regulation 6 provides that any overpayments due from a beneficiary are recoverable as a debt and regulation 7 provides for the rate of interest on that repayment. Regulation 8 allows for any overpayments to be set off against any direct payment or rural development payment due to a farmer. Regulations 9 and 10 provide powers of entry and inspection and regulation 11 creates offences and penalties. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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 0.90.

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