UK Offence Report

Application of various sections of the Food Safety Act 1990

regulation 7(2) of The Contaminants in Food (Wales) Regulations 2005

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

8 Any person who knowingly contravenes the requirements of

a notice under paragraph (a) of subsection (2) above is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 (knowingly).

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: knowingly.

What would breach regulation 7(2)?

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 knowingly contravenes the requirements of a notice under paragraph (a) of subsection (2) above.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Contaminants in Food (Wales) Regulations 2005 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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 (2005-03-01); 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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Contaminants in Food (Wales) Regulations 2006
Revoked on
1 March 2006
Made
22 February 2005
In force from
1 March 2005
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.

These Regulations, which apply in relation to Wales only and revoke and re-enact with changes the Contaminants in Food (Wales) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1721) — make provision for the execution and enforcement of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 466/2001 setting maximum levels for contaminants in foodstuffs (OJ No. L77, 16.3.2001, p.1, as corrected and amended) (“the Commission Regulation”); and, implement— Commission Directive 98/53/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of the levels for certain contaminant in foodstuffs (OJ No. L201, 17.7.98, p.93, as amended), Commission Directive 2001/22/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of the levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and 3-MCPD in foodstuffs (OJ No. L77, 16.3.2001, p.14, as corrected), Commission Directive 2002/26/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis of the official control of levels of ochratoxin A in foodstuffs (OJ No. L75, 16.3.2002, p.38), Commission Directive 2002/69/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of dioxins and the determination of dioxin-like PCBs in foodstuffs (OJ No. L209, 6.8.2002, p.5, as corrected and amended), Commission Directive 2003/78/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of the levels of patulin in foodstuffs (OJ No. L203, 12.8.2003, p.40), and Commission Directive 2004/16/EC laying down the sampling methods and the methods of analysis for the official control of the levels of tin in canned foods (OJ No. L42, 13.2.2004, p.16). These Regulations— provide that it is an offence to— place on the market certain foods if they contain contaminants of any kind specified in the Commission Regulation at levels exceeding those specified (subject to a derogation applicable to certain types of lettuce and spinach), use food containing such contaminants at such levels as ingredients in the production of certain foods, mix foods which comply with the maximum referred to above with foods which do not, mix foods to which the Commission Regulation relates and which are intended for direct consumption with foods to which the Commission Regulation relates and which are intended to be sorted or otherwise treated prior to consumption, or detoxify by chemical treatment food not complying with the limits specified in the Commission Regulation (regulation 3); specify the enforcement authorities (regulation 4); prescribe requirements in relation to the analysis of samples of foods subject to the Commission Regulation, and in doing so modify section 29 of the Food Safety Act 1990 in its application to the taking of samples of the foods concerned (regulation 5); provide a defence in relation to exports in implementation of Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EEC on the official control of foodstuffs, as read with the ninth recital to that Directive (OJ No. L186, 30.6.89, p.23) (regulation 6); provide for the application of specified provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 for the purposes thereof (regulation 7); subject to regulation 9, provide for the re-export to non-member States or in certain cases the destruction of imported food that contravenes certain requirements of regulation 3 (regulation 8); establish a process by which food that would otherwise have to be re-exported or destroyed under regulation 8 can nevertheless be placed on the market (regulation 9); include transitional provisions (regulations 10 and 11); and make consequential amendments to the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) Regulations 1990 in so far as they apply in relation to Wales (regulation 12). These Regulations also revoke the Tin in Food Regulations 1992 in so far as they apply in relation to Wales (regulation 13). A regulatory appraisal has been prepared for these Regulations and placed in the library of the National Assembly for Wales together with a transposition note setting out how the main elements of the Commission Directives referred to in paragraph 1 above are transposed into domestic law by these Regulations. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency, 11th Floor, Southgate House, Cardiff, CF10 1EW.

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