UK Offence Report

1 A person who produces or supplies a tobacco product in breach of any provision of these Regulations is…

regulation 15(1) of The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products 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 A person who produces or supplies

a tobacco product in breach of any provision of these Regulations 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

co product in breach of any provision of these Regulations, it is a defence that the person neither knew nor had reasonable grounds for suspecting that the tobacco product was supplied in breach of that provision.

What would breach regulation 15(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person produces or supplies a tobacco product in breach of any provision of these Regulations.
  2. Selling the goods under the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Not determined
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
19 March 2015
In force from
20 May 2016
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 retail packaging of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco to be standardised. These Regulations implement Articles 13 and 14, and one element of Article 9.3, of Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3rd April 2014 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products (OJ No. L 127 29.4.2014, p1). Regulations 3 and 7 prescribe the sole colours that are permitted to be used on the external and internal surfaces of the retail packaging of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco respectively. These two regulations do not prohibit anything that is required by any other enactment, which includes, but is not limited to, mandatory health warnings, security features and fiscal marks. These regulations are subject to the text permitted under Schedules 1 and 3 respectively. Regulation 4 sets out requirements for individual packets of cigarettes. It stipulates the material that such packets must be made from, the shape that the packet must be, what openings are permitted and the minimum amount of cigarettes permitted in each individual packet. Regulation 8 sets out requirements for individual packets of hand rolling tobacco. It stipulates the shapes or type of packet that are permitted and the minimum weight of tobacco allowed in each packet. These two regulations implement Article 14, and one element of Article 9.3, of Directive 2014/40/EU. Regulation 5 sets out requirements for the appearance of individual cigarettes, including the permitted colours and text, and the requirements for that text. Regulation 10 prohibits elements or features of the labelling on the packaging or the actual products, if the element or feature has one of the effects set out in paragraph (3). Paragraph (4) prohibits retail packaging that suggests economic advantage. This regulation applies to all tobacco products. This regulation, together with regulation 19(3), implements Article 13 of Directive 2014/40/EU. Regulation 11 prohibits packaging for cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco that produces a noise or smell that is not normally associated with that packaging. This does not prohibit any smell resulting from additives designed to give the cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco themselves a smell or flavour, where those additives are otherwise permitted. Regulation 12 prohibits features of the packaging of cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco that are designed to change after the product has been sold to the consumer. Regulation 13 makes provisions concerning the registration, under the Trade Marks Act 1994, of trade marks the use of which is affected by these Regulations. Regulation 14 makes provisions concerning the registration, under the Registered Design Act 1949, of designs the use of which is affected by these Regulations. Regulations 15 to 18 make provision for offences and enforcement. Regulation 19(1) and(2) amend section 3(1) of the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 and article 4(1) of the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, to remove the requirement that cigarette packets must have a minimum of 10 cigarettes. Article 14 of Directive 2014/40/EU provides that packets must have a minimum of 20 cigarettes. Regulation 19(3) revokes regulation 4 of the Tobacco Products (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale) (Safety) Regulations 2002 which requires packets of cigarettes to carry a statement of the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields of the cigarettes contained in it. Such statements are now prohibited by Article 13(1)(a) of Directive 2014/40/EU. Schedule 1 sets out what text is permitted on the retail packaging of cigarettes. Schedule 3 sets out what text is permitted on the retail packaging of hand rolling tobacco. These schedules also set out the colour, typeface, size, location and orientation of the permitted text, and make provision for the use of barcodes and calibration marks on that packaging. Schedules 2 and 4 make further provisions about the packaging of cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco in respect of the surfaces of the packaging, any lining inside packets of cigarettes, tabs or seals on packets of hand rolling tobacco and in respect of any wrappers. The schedules prohibit inserts or additional materials that are not an integral part of the packaging, required as part of the packaging process or required to protect the product. A draft of these Regulations has been notified to the European Commission as a technical standard, pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No l204, 21.7.98, p 37) laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, as amended. An Impact Assessment has been prepared for these Regulations and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument 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 0.92.

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