UK Offence Report

Obstruction

regulation 6 of The Older Cattle (Disposal) (Wales) Regulations 2006

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

6 Any person is guilty of an offence if he or she—

a intentionally obstructs any person executing these Regulations;

b without reasonable cause, fails to give to any person executing these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require of him or her for the performance of his or her functions under these Regulations;

c provides any person executing these Regulations with any information which he or she knows to be false or misleading; or

d fails to produce

a record when required to do so to any person executing these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 6?

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 or she— a intentionally obstructs any person executing these Regulations.
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Older Cattle (Disposal) (Wales) Regulations 2006.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

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
18 January 2006
In force from
23 January 2006
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 make provision for the enforcement of certain of the requirements of Commission Regulation (EC) No 716/96 as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2109/2005, adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market in the United Kingdom. The Commission Regulation (as amended) introduces a scheme authorising the United Kingdom to purchase any bovine animal born or reared within the United Kingdom before 1 August 1996 which does not exhibit any clinical sign of BSE and which was, during a period of at least six months prior to its sale, present on a holding located in United Kingdom territory. Various requirements are specified as to the slaughter, treatment and disposal of animals subject to the scheme. Regulation 3 creates offences in respect of breaches of the provisions of the Commission Regulation (as amended) referred to in Column 1 (and described in Column 2) of the Schedule to these Regulations. Regulation 4 provides that these Regulations are to be enforced by the National Assembly for Wales which must appoint inspectors for this purpose. Regulations 5 to 8 detail the powers of those inspectors, and the consequences of failure to comply with, or of obstructing, the inspectors. Under regulation 9, breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine up to the statutory maximum, currently £5,000, or three months imprisonment. On indictment the penalty is an unlimited fine or two years imprisonment. A full regulatory appraisal has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.

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