UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 5 of The Medical Food (Wales) Regulations 2000 (revoked)

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

5 If any person —

a contravenes regulation 3(1) above, or

b without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation 3(2) above, he or she shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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

5 If any person — a contravenes regulation 3(1) above, or b without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation 3(2) above, he or she shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 5?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Medical Food (Wales) Regulations 2000, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2001-11-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
14 July 2000
In force from
1 November 2001
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.

(This note does not form part of the Regulations) These Regulations, which come into force on 1st November 2001, implement in Wales Commission Directive 1999/21/EC on dietary foods for special medical purposes. Article 1(2) of the Directive classifies such foods as foods specially processed or formulated for the dietary management, under medical supervision, of patients who require a special diet, and regulation 2 of these Regulations defines medical food as food within that classification. Article 2 of the Directive calls for Member States to ensure that such food may only be marketed if it complies with the Directive. Articles 3 and 4 of the Directive lay down requirements for formulation, composition and instructions for use of such food, and for its naming and labelling. Regulation 3(1) of these Regulations prohibits the sale of medical food unless those requirements are met. Article 5 of the Directive requires notification to competent authorities of the placing on the market of products covered by the Directive whether manufactured within, or imported from outside the European Community. Regulation 3(2) and (3) prohibits sale of medical foods by manufacturers and importers covered by this notification requirement unless they have complied with it. In the case of medical foods manufactured in Wales, or imported into Wales from outside the United Kingdom, the Food Standards Agency is the relevant authority. Regulations 4, 5 and 7 set out enforcement responsibilities, offences and penalties, and application of provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990. The Regulations also provide a defence in relation to exports, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EC (OJ No.L186, 30.6.89, p.23) on the official control of foodstuffs (regulation 6).

Read the full note and every offence in this 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