UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 14(1) of The Official Controls (Animals, Feed and Food, Plant Health Fees etc.) Regulations 2019

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 is guilty of an offence if without reasonable excuse that person obstructs or causes or permits to be obstructed—

a an auditor;

b an inspector;

c any person who accompanies

a relevant auditor or relevant inspector; or

d an enforcement officer.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A person is guilty of an offence if without reasonable excuse that person obstructs or causes or permits to be obstructed— a an auditor; b an inspector; c any person who accompanies a relevant auditor or relevant inspector; or d an enforcement officer.

What would breach regulation 14(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 Official Controls (Animals, Feed and Food, Plant Health Fees etc.) Regulations 2019.
  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
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
3 December 2019
In force from
14 December 2019
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations replace the Official Controls (Animals, Food and Feed) (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/3472) and substantially amend the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1197) that apply in England only. These Regulations implement and enforce Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (OJ No. L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1) on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products (“the EU Regulation”) except as regards certain provisions of that Regulation. Implementation and enforcement of certain provisions of the EU Regulation relating to feed and food are the subject of the Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/3255). Implementation and enforcement of provisions relating to plant health and protective measures against plant pests are the subject of separate Regulations. Part 2 provides for audits to be undertaken of official controls and other official activities in accordance with the EU Regulation. Part 3 provides for assistance and co-operation under Title IV of the EU Regulation and recovery of expenses. Part 4 provides for enforcement and penalties. Part 5 deals with consequential amendments as a result of the application of the EU Regulation. Part 6 contains amendments to secondary legislation relating to plant health fees as a result of the application of the EU Regulation and Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament of the Council on protective measures against pests of plants (OJ No. L 317, 23.11.2016, p.4). Part 7 inserts a review provision in accordance with the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (c. 26), and revokes the Official Controls (Animals, Food and Feed) (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/3472). A full impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations 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 →

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