UK Offence Report

Offences and criminal penalties

regulation 40(1) of The Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) Regulations 2005 (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 A person is guilty of an offence if — a being a relevant person, he or she fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed on him or her by or under these Regulations or the Community legislation; or b in connection with these Regulations or the Community legislation, he or she — 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.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

an offence if — a being a relevant person, he or she fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed on him or her by or under these Regulations or the Community legislation; or b in connection with these Regulations or the Community legislation, he or she — i makes or causes to be made a statement, or uses or causes to b

What would breach regulation 40(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 2005.
  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
8 March 2005
In force from
31 March 2005
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 31 March 2005, revoke and replace the Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/897 (W.103)) (“the 2002 Regulations”) as amended by the Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/911 (W.94)). These Regulations implement Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003 (OJ No. L279, 21.10.2003 p.123) establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 595/2004 (OJ No. L94, 31.3.2004, p.22) laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (“the Commission Regulation”). The Council Regulation and the Commission Regulation revoke and replace earlier legislation relating to the levy. Under the Community legislation, as defined in regulation 2(1), 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 dairy business, 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”, which is defined in regulation 2(1), is used to refer to the reference quantity described in the Community legislation. These Regulations apply in relation to relevant persons, including producers and purchasers, in relation to whom the National Assembly for Wales (“the National Assembly”) is the competent authority under the Dairy Produce Quotas (General Provisions) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/458). The terms “relevant person”, “producer” and “purchaser” are defined in regulation 2(1). The National Assembly is the competent authority in relation to those relevant persons whose 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. Amendments to the Dairy Produce Quotas (General Provisions) Regulations 2002 also come into force on 31 March 2005; see S.I. 2005/466. Apart from drafting changes and the revocation of spent provisions, the new provisions included in these Regulations are as follows: a Before approving a purchaser, the National Assembly may oblige the purchaser to lodge such security as the National Assembly may reasonably require (regulation 5(4)). b Provisions relating to butterfat-adjusted deliveries and the liability of producers for levy on deliveries (regulations 25 and 27). c A direct seller who does not provide a declaration of his sales in a quota year (as defined in regulation 2(1)) by 14 May immediately following the end of that quota year and who is liable to pay levy in respect of such sales will pay levy at the full rate (regulation 30(14)). d Unless he or she has already paid levy, in certain circumstances a producer will be liable for the payment of levy to the National Assembly where his or her purchaser has failed to do so (regulation 31). e Article 21 of the Commission Regulation requires that checks be made on the compatibility between deliveries and direct sales of milk on the one hand and production capacity on the other. Consequently, a producer is required to keep invoices of feed purchased by him or her (regulation 34(2) and paragraphs 2(1)(d) and 3(d) of Schedule 2). f Article 6 of the Commission Regulation provides that milk which is destroyed off-farm for sanitary reasons will not be taken into account when calculating levy. Consequently, a producer is required to keep records of such milk (regulation 34(2) and paragraphs 2(1)(j) and 3(k) of Schedule 2). g Where a person has to submit a document to the National Assembly in accordance with these Regulations, the operative date is the date by when the National Assembly receives the document, not the date of despatch to the National Assembly. h New provision is also made — i enabling a tenant who buys quota to retain that quota at the end of his or her tenancy in certain circumstances (regulation 14); ii relating to the conversion of quota (regulation 22); iii to prevent the avoidance of levy (regulation 32); iv imposing a penalty for failure to submit a summary under Article 8(2) of the Commission Regulation by 1 July (regulation 36(6)); and v for the confiscation of quota (regulation 38). A copy of the map referred to in the definition of “Scottish Islands area” is available for inspection at the offices of the National Assembly for Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ. A regulatory appraisal of the effect which this instrument will have on the costs of business has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the National Assembly for Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

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