UK Offence Report

Offence: supply of single-use plastic straws to an end user

regulation 4(1) of The Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (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

1 A person who, in the course of

a business, supplies or offers to supply to an end user

a single-use plastic straw, other than an attached plastic straw, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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.

What would breach regulation 4(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person supplies or offers to supply to an end user a single-use plastic straw, other than an attached plastic straw.
  2. Selling the goods under the Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (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
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
10 September 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, which apply in relation to England, prohibit persons from supplying or offering to supply certain plastic items in the course of a business. The prohibitions apply from the twenty-first day after the coming into force of these Regulations, except for the prohibition of the supply of drinks products with single-use plastic straws attached to their packaging, which applies from 3rd July 2021. Part 2 prohibits the supply of single-use plastic straws to an end user, subject to certain exceptions. The exceptions include the supply of straws by registered pharmacies, the supply of straws by a catering establishment together with food or drink for immediate consumption, and the supply of straws which are medical devices or are for use for medical purposes. Part 2 also prohibits the supply of drinks products with single-use plastic straws attached to their packaging, subject to an exception for medical purposes. Part 3 prohibits the supply of single-use plastic stemmed cotton buds to an end user, other than for medical, forensic or scientific purposes. Part 4 prohibits the supply of plastic drink stirrers. Breach of these prohibitions is an offence (regulations 4, 10 and 14). Regulation 15 makes transitional provision allowing for the continued supply of existing stock; for the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which the regulations come into force, it will not be an offence for a person to supply or offer to supply a product which they obtained before the coming into force date. A civil sanctions regime is also introduced to enable regulators to impose a range of civil sanctions (regulation 19 and the Schedule). These are variable monetary penalties, compliance notices, stop notices and enforcement undertakings. The Regulations make provision for the procedure relating to these sanctions and the available appeal mechanisms. Failure to comply with a stop notice is an offence (paragraph 16 of the Schedule). All appeals relating to a civil sanction are to the First-tier Tribunal. Regulations 18 and 20 provide for enforcement officers to have powers of entry to carry out the necessary investigations in order to determine whether an offence has been committed. Regulation 21 provides for the publication of information on enforcement action taken by regulators, and regulations 22 and 23 provide that guidance relating to the use of civil sanctions must be prepared and consulted on and specify information to be included in such guidance. Regulation 24 contains provision for review of the Regulations. Regulators are able to recover the costs of enforcement (paragraph 27 of the Schedule) in the case of variable monetary penalties, compliance notices and stop notices. These Regulations were notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ No. L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1). A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sectors is available from the Waste Team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR, and is also available together with these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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.

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