UK Offence Report

Offences and criminal penalties

regulation 32(1) of The Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) Regulations 2002 (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

1 Any person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with

a requirement imposed on him or her by or under these Regulations or the Community legislation, or who, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing—

a fails to comply with

a requirement made pursuant to regulation 28(1);

b in connection with these Regulations or the Community legislation—

i makes or causes to be made

a statement, or uses or causes to be used

a document, which he or she knows to be false in

a material particular, or

ii recklessly makes or causes to be made

a statement, or recklessly uses or causes to be used

a document, which is false in

a material particular; or

c disposes of quota which he or she knows or might reasonably be expected to know is incorrectly registered in his or her name, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable—

i on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months, or to both; or

ii on conviction on indictment, to

a fine, or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 (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: recklessly; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 Any person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed on him or her by or under these Regulations or the Community legislation, or who, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing— a fails to comply with a requirement made pursuant to regulation 28(1); b in connectio

What would breach regulation 32(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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) Regulations 2002.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
27 March 2002
In force from
31 March 2002
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 come into force on 31st March 2002, replace the provisions of the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/733, as amended by S.I. 1997/1093, 1998/2880, 2000/972 (W.42) and 2000/3123 (W.201). They implement Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ No. L405, 31.12.92, p.1, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 603/2001 (OJ No. L89, 29.3.2001, p.18)) (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1392/2001 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3950/92 (OJ No. L187, 10.7.2001, p.19) (“the Commission Regulation”). Under this and other Community legislation (collectively defined in these Regulations as “the Community legislation”), a levy continues to be payable on dairy produce sold by direct sale by a producer or delivered by him or her wholesale to a purchaser, unless the sales or deliveries are within a reference quantity described in that legislation. The Community legislation establishes the system of what are commonly called “milk quotas” and in these Regulations the term “quota” is used to refer to the reference quantity described in the Community legislation. These Regulations apply in relation to producers, purchasers and other relevant persons in relation to whom the National Assembly for Wales (“the National Assembly”) is “the relevant competent authority” as defined by the Dairy Produce Quotas (General Provisions) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/458 ), that is to say, producers, purchasers or other persons whose trading address, or, where there is more than one such address, whose principal trading address, is in Wales. The holdings of producers to whom these Regulations apply may comprise land in parts of the United Kingdom outside Wales. Apart from drafting changes and the replacement of spent provisions, the new provisions included in these Regulations are as follows— The conditions surrounding the transfer of quota without a corresponding transfer of the land to which that quota relates have been eased. The transfer and transferee are no longer required to give undertakings that they will not transfer quota onto or from their holdings for up to two quota years, and existing undertakings will cease to have effect (regulation 35(3)). Instead, the transferee is required to undertake to the National Assembly that he or she will be in milk production on a date six months from the date of the transfer (regulation 12(2)(c)). The provisions concerning the temporary reallocation of quota have been extended to cover herd movement restrictions resulting from a declaration made under an order made pursuant to section 17 of the Animal Health Act 1981 (1981 c. 22) (regulation 15(2)(a)). In addition, the definition of “eligible heifer” has been amended, introducing a new method of counting such heifers, and of calculating when the replacement number of heifers has been met, thus determining when reallocation is possible (regulation 2(1) and regulation 15). In implementation of Article 13(2) of the Commission Regulation (which requires purchasers to be approved and confers on Member States the power to impose additional conditions of approval), purchasers are required to apply to the National Assembly for approval and meet certain conditions as to character, financial state and future conduct (regulation 25). New provisions have been adopted in respect of the keeping and retention of records (regulation 30 and Schedule 3). Administrative penalties have been introduced in relation to any failure of a purchaser to submit to the National Assembly certain statements, summaries or statistics (regulation 31). The provisions concerning offences and criminal penalties have been revised (regulation 32). A Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared in respect of these Regulations. Copies of this can be obtained from The National Assembly for Wales, Agriculture Department, Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

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