UK Offence Report

Obstruction

regulation 21 of The Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) (Wales) Regulations 2001

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

21 Any person who—

a intentionally obstructs an authorised officer acting in the execution of these Regulations, or

b fails to give to any such officer any assistance or information or to provide any facilities which that officer may reasonably require of him or her for the purposes of his or her functions under these Regulations,shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
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).

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: intentionally.

What would breach regulation 21?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) (Wales) Regulations 2001.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked by
The Wine Regulations 2011
Revoked on
30 December 2011
Made
12 June 2001
In force from
1 August 2001
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

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) The Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) (Wales) Regulations 2001 revoke the Common Agricultural Policy (Wine) Regulations 1996 S.I. 1996/696 (as amended) in so far as they apply to Wales. The Regulations, which come into force on 1st August 2001, provide for the enforcement of EC Regulations (as specified in Schedules 1 and 2) concerned with the production and marketing of wine and related products. The Regulations— i designate authorities for the purposes of enforcing the EC Regulations (regulation 3); ii define “medium dry” for the purposes of labelling and description (regulation 4); iii specify the vine varieties classified for the production of wine (including quality wine psr (produce of a specific region)) in Wales (regulation 5); iv specify conditions for the use of geographical indications for the designation of table wine (regulation 6); v provide for powers of inspection and enforcement (regulation 7); vi authorise controls on the movement of wine-sector products (regulations 8 and 9); vii provide for reviews of prohibitions etc. on movement of wine-sector products and notification of rights of review (regulation 10); viii relieve authorised officers of personal liability for acts done by them in execution of the Regulations (regulation 11); ix confer on courts before which proceedings are brought powers in relation to the analysis and examination of samples (regulation 12); x specify the regions in Wales for producing quality wines psr (regulation 13); xi specify the minimum natural alcoholic strength, maximum yield per hectare and analytical test in the production of quality wine psr and permit the production of such wine in areas of immediate proximity to the specified regions and designates the competent body to deal with such wine (regulations 14 to 18); and xii prescribe offences and penalties and provide defences (regulations 19 to 23). No Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared in respect of the Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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