UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012

regulation 4(7) of The Food and Feed Hygiene and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2020

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

Offences of contravening Article 3(1) of Regulation 282/2008 15B Subject to the transitional provisions contained in Article 14, any person who places on the market

a material or article that fails to comply with Article 3(1) (requirements for plastic materials and articles) 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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 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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 4(7)?

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 places on the market a material or article that fails to comply with Article 3(1) (requirements for plastic materials and articles).
  2. Selling the goods under the Food and Feed Hygiene and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2020 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
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
2 December 2020
In force from
Not determined
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 amend— a the Fishery Products (Official Controls Charges) (England) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/3392); b the Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/3255); c the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2619); d the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2996); e the Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/255); and f the Animal Feed (Hygiene, Sampling etc. and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/454). Regulation 2 amends the Fishery Products (Official Controls Charges) (England) Regulations 2007 to correct a minor drafting error. Regulation 3 amends the Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009 to— a insert revised Schedules 1 and 6 to refer to recent EU legislation (regulation 3(2)(b), (9) and (12)); b revise the provision regarding offences in relation to certification arrangements for sprouts and seeds intended for the production of sprouts to refer to recent EU legislation (regulation 3(7)); c ensure charges and fees can be imposed on an operator by a competent authority in respect of unplanned official controls, and make consequential provision as a result (regulation 3(6) and (8)); d insert revised Schedules 4 and 5 to update the competent authority designations for the purpose of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (regulation 3(10) and (11)). Regulation 4 amends the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012 (“the MACF Principal Regulations”) to— a provide for the execution and enforcement of— i Commission Regulation (EC) No. 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food and amending Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 (OJ No. L86, 28.3.2008, p.9) (regulation 4(7)); and ii Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2018/213 on the use of bisphenol A in varnishes and coatings intended to come into contact with food and amending Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as regards the use of that substance in plastic food contact materials (OJ No. L 41, 14.2.2018, p. 6) (regulation 4(9)); b remove the penalty of imprisonment from several offences (substituted regulation 19 of the MACF Principal Regulations) (regulation 4(10)); c provide that an authorised officer who has reasonable grounds for believing that any person has not complied with, is not complying with or is not likely to comply with various specified provisions (relating to declarations of compliance or supporting documentation) may serve a compliance notice on that person requiring that person to take the steps stated in the notice (new regulations 19A and 19B of the MACF Principal Regulations) (regulation 4(11)). There is a right of appeal against a compliance notice (new regulation 19C of the MACF Principal Regulations) (regulation 4(11)). Regulation 5 amends the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 to— a insert a revised Schedule 1 to refer to recent EU legislation (regulation 5(2)(b) and (3)); b revise the definition of the Regulation 2017/625 package to refer to recent EU legislation (regulation 5(2)(a)(ii)). These Regulations amend the Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015 and the Animal Feed (Hygiene, Sampling etc. and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2015 to provide for the execution and enforcement of Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/354 establishing a list of intended uses of feed intended for particular nutritional purposes and repealing Directive 2008/38/EC (OJ No. L67, 5.3.2020, p.1.) (regulations 6 and 7). These Regulations amend the Animal Feed (Hygiene, Sampling etc. and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2015 to update references to EU legislation (regulation 7). A full impact assessment of the effect that regulation 4 (which amends the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2012) will have on the costs of the public, private or voluntary sector is available from the Food Standards Agency, Clive House, 70 Petty France, London SW1H 9EX, and is also available together with these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk. A full impact assessment was not considered necessary for the other parts of these Regulations.

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