UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Detergents Regulations 2010

regulation 2(6) of The Detergents (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

6 In regulation 7, for paragraph 1, substitute “Any manufacturer who places on the market any controlled product is guilty of an offence unless the controlled product conforms with Article 3(1) of Regulation 648/2004.”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 manufacturer
Conduct
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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 manufacturer 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 states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

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

What would breach regulation 2(6)?

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 manufacturer places on the market any controlled product.
  2. Selling the goods under the Detergents (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
Revoked
Made
21 March 2019
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the provision creating this offence was omitted from its instrument by a later instrument.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by section 8(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) (“the 2018 Act”) in order to address failures of retained EU law relating to detergents to operate effectively and other deficiencies (including those set out in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (g) of section 8(2) of the 2018 Act which apply to this instrument) arising from the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. They also restate retained EU law in a clearer and more accessible way (see paragraph 21 of Schedule 7 to the 2018 Act). Part 2 amends EU-derived domestic legislation (the Detergents Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/740)). Part 3 amends direct EU legislation (Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 (OJ No L104, 8.4.2004, p.1) and the corresponding legislation adopted under the EEA agreement). An 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

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 0.92.

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