UK Offence Report

18 It shall be an offence for a person:— a intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of…

regulation 18 of The Tir Mynydd (Wales) Regulations 2001

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

18 It shall be an offence for a person:— a intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 16; b without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with the requirements made under regulation 16 or a request made under that regulation; or c knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is made or the information is furnished for the purposes of obtaining for himself or herself or any other person the whole or any part of any Tir Mynydd payment.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

“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: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

on in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 16; b without reasonable excuse to fail to comply with the requirements made under regulation 16 or a request made under that regulation; or c knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is

What would breach regulation 18?

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 Tir Mynydd (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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
Status not determined
Made
15 February 2001
In force from
1 March 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) The review of the European Union’s common agricultural policy known as Agenda 2000 has led to a change in the system of less favoured area agricultural support from one based on the number of animals to an area based system. The policies of the European Union are set out in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 and the detailed framework for the implementation of that Council Regulation is contained in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1750/1999. The proposals of the National Assembly for Wales for the implementation of those European Union policies were contained in the Rural Development Plan for Wales that it presented to the European Commission and which was approved on 11th October 2000. These Regulations deal with the Scheme described in that Rural Development Plan as the Tir Mynydd Scheme, which provides financial support for farmers whose holding includes disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged land (the less favoured area). Different schemes for less favoured area support have been adopted by Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Holdings that include land in more than one part of the United Kingdom will therefore be the subject of further regulations. These Regulations provide for the following: Part I— General Name, commencement and application (regulation 1) Definitions (regulation 2) Part II — The Scheme. Qualifying claimants (regulation 3) Minimum stocking density (regulation 4) Maximum stocking density (regulation 5) Calculation of area payments - element 1 (regulation 6 and Schedule 1) Environmental enhancement under element 2 of the scheme (regulation 7) Categories that qualify for enhancement (regulation 8) Part III — Administration Payments (regulation 9) Claims (regulation 10) Late claims (regulation 11) Release from undertaking (regulation 12) Withholding or recovery of payments (regulation 13) Rate of interest (regulation 14) Cross Border Holdings (regulation 15) Part IV — Enforcement Powers of authorised persons (regulation 16) Assistance to authorised persons (regulation 17) Offences (regulation 18) Penalties (regulation 19) Time limit for prosecutions (regulation 20) Offences by bodies corporate (regulation 21) The changes to the system of support were required by the European legislation referred to above. The detailed arrangements for doing so are contained in the National Assembley’s Rural Development Plan. The final version of the Plan was prepared following consultation with interested parties and with the National Assembly’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. No specific regulatory appraisal has therefore been carried out.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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