UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 18(1) of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2018

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—

a to fail to comply with the TSE requirements;

b to fail to comply with the requirements of any notice or licence served or issued under these Regulations;

c to intentionally obstruct an inspector carrying out any functions (including the facilitation of samples taken by an inspector in accordance with paragraph

8 of Schedule 2) under the EU TSE Regulation or these Regulations;

d without reasonable cause, fail to give to an inspector acting for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the EU TSE Regulation or these Regulations any assistance or information or provide any facilities that the inspector may reasonably require;

e to give false or misleading information to an inspector for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the EU TSE Regulation or these Regulations;

f to fail to produce

a record when required to do so by an inspector acting under these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 18(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 Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2018.
  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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
13 June 2018
In force from
19 July 2018
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, which apply in England, revoke and remake with amendments the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/801). These Regulations enforce Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ No L 147, 31.5.2001, p 1) (“the EU TSE Regulation”). The provisions in Part 2 identify the TSE controls that are subject to enforcement under these Regulations and introduce Schedules 2 to 8. Part 3 deals with administration and enforcement. These Regulations are enforced by local authorities as defined in regulation 2. A Unitary authority may act as the enforcement authority where it is the sole principal county or district council for its local government area. Schedule 1 sets out the TSE requirements. Schedule 2 sets out the requirements for monitoring for TSE and the approval of laboratories and provides for compensation. Schedule 3 provides for TSE controls and compensation for bovine animals (cattle). Schedule 4 provides for TSE controls and compensation for ovine and caprine animals (sheep and goats). Schedule 5 provides for TSE controls and compensation for animals that are not bovine, ovine, or caprine animals. Schedule 6 provides for restrictions to be placed on suspect feedingstuffs and for the slaughter of animals that have had access to unlawful feedingstuffs. Schedule 7 sets out the controls for dealing with specified risk material and mechanically recovered meat. Slaughtering techniques are specified in the Schedule. The Food Standards Agency are appointed as the competent authority for granting authorisations and carrying out Annex 5 duties provided for in the EU TSE Regulation. Schedule 8 deals with the export of live bovine animals and products derived from them to other member States and to third countries. Schedule 9 contains a list of instruments that are revoked. A full 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 became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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