UK Offence Report

Provision of false or misleading information

regulation 41 of The Official Controls (Plant Health and Genetically Modified Organisms) (England) 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

41 A person commits an offence if, for the purposes of obtaining an authorisation or

a permit or procuring the issue of

a plant passport or certificate, the person—

a knowingly or recklessly makes

a statement or representation which is false in

a material particular;

b knowingly or recklessly furnishes

a document or information which is false in

a material particular; or

c intentionally fails to disclose any material information.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 41?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Official Controls (Plant Health and Genetically Modified Organisms) (England) Regulations 2019.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
20 December 2019
In force from
14 January 2020
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 give effect to— a Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council on protective measures against pests of plants (OJ No. L 317, 23.11.2016, p.4) (“the EU Plant Health Regulation”); and b Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council 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, in so far as it applies to the rules referred to in Article 1(2)(g) (OJ No. L 95, 7.4.2017, p.1) (“the Official Controls Regulation”). The Regulations also implement in relation to England— a Council Directive 69/464/EEC on control of Potato Wart Disease (OJ No. L 323, 24.12.1969, p.1); b Council Directive 93/85/EEC on the control of potato ring rot (OJ No. L 259, 18.10.1993, p.1); c Council Directive 98/57/EC on the control of Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al. (OJ No. L 235, 21.8.1998, p.1); and d Council Directive 2007/33/EC on the control of potato cyst (OJ No. L 156, 16.6.2007, p.12). Part 1 is introductory and includes definitions. Regulation 3(2) provides for references to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 establishing uniform conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and the Council, as regards protective measures against pests of plants (OJ No. L 319, 10.12.2019, p.1), and to the European Union instruments listed in regulation 3(1), to be read as references to those instruments as amended from time to time. Regulation 6 (in Part 2) designates the Secretary of State and the Forestry Commissioners as the competent authorities in England for the purposes of the EU Plant Health Regulation and the Official Controls Regulation. Part 3 makes further provision in relation to consignments of plants, plant products and other objects from third countries which are subject to official controls on their entry into the European Union. Part 4 contains powers to enable plant health inspectors appointed by the Secretary of State or the Forestry Commissioners, and the Secretary of State and the Forestry Commissioners, to take measures to prevent the establishment or spread of harmful plant pests in England. Part 5 and Schedule 1 impose additional temporary measures to prevent the entry of certain harmful plant pests into England or their establishment in, or spread within, England. Part 6 makes further provision in relation to the registration of professional operators and the granting of authorisations to professional operators by the Secretary of State and the Forestry Commissioners. Part 7 and Schedule 2 impose additional requirements in relation to certain solanaceous species (potatoes and tomatoes) to implement the Directives mentioned above. Part 8 imposes additional notification requirements in respect of certain plants and plant products which are to be brought into England from third countries, other member States or Switzerland. Part 9 sets out general powers of plant health inspectors to enable them to perform official controls and other official activities, and enforce the EU Plant Health Regulation, the Official Controls Regulation and these Regulations. Part 10 contain general and supplemental provisions in relation to notices given by plant health inspectors. Part 11 contains offences for non-compliance with specified provisions of the EU Plant Health Regulation, the Official Controls Regulation and other EU instruments, and offences in relation to these Regulations. Regulation 48 sets out the penalties for these offences. Part 12 deals with minor and consequential amendments to secondary legislation, revocations and transitional provisions in relation to plant health legislation. Part 13 amends the Official Controls (Animals, Feed and Food, Plant Health Fees etc.) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1488) to extend certain provisions in those Regulations relating to the implementation and enforcement of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 to official controls on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms for the purposes of food and feed production. Regulation 56 (in Part 14) requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of the EU Plant Health Regulation, the Official Controls Regulation and these Regulations and publish a report at five-yearly intervals. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary 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.

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 “commits 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