UK Offence Report

Obstruction

regulation 16(1) of The Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce (Wales) Regulations 2009

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 they—

a without reasonable excuse, proof of which lies on that person, obstructs an authorised officer acting for the purposes of the enforcement of these Regulations, or

a person accompanying such an authorised officer under regulation 7(3)(a);

b without reasonable excuse, proof of which lies on that person, fails to give an authorised officer acting for the purposes of the enforcement of these Regulations any assistance or information or to provide any record or facilities that they may reasonably require;

c without reasonable excuse, proof of which lies on that person, fails to make any request for inspection when so required by Community marketing rules or fails to give any notice or information required by Community marketing rules.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

1 A person is guilty of an offence if they— a without reasonable excuse, proof of which lies on that person, obstructs an authorised officer acting for the purposes of the enforcement of these Regulations, or a person accompanying such an authorised officer under regulation 7(3)(a); b without reasonable excuse, proof of which lie

What would breach regulation 16(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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce (Wales) Regulations 2009.
  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
23 June 2009
In force from
16 July 2009
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 provide a new statutory framework for the enforcement of the European Community marketing rules in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector provided for in Articles 113 and 113a of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (OJ No L 299, 16.11.2007, p.1) establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation), and contained in Title II of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 (OJ No L 350, 31.12.2007, p.1) laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector. In particular, they implement the revisions made to the Community marketing rules introduced by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1221/2008 (OJ No L 336, 13.12.2008, p 1) amending Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector as regards marketing standards. These Regulations revoke the Grading of Horticultural Produce (Amendment) Regulations 1973 (S.I. 1973/22), the Grading of Horticultural Produce (Forms of Labels) Regulations 1982 (S.I. 1982/387) and the Grading of Horticultural Produce (Amendment) Regulations 1983 (S.I. 1983/1053). They disapply the Agriculture and Horticulture Act 1964 (c. 28) and the Horticultural Produce Act 1986 (c. 20) which modifies the 1964 Act from the Community marketing rules in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector. They also disapply the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Acts 1928 and 1931 (c. 19 and c. 40 respectively) and the Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 (c. 47). They designate the Welsh Ministers as inspection body for Wales under Article 8(1)(b) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007, provide that the Welsh Ministers may disclose or where required to do so provide information to the Secretary of State, the Northern Ireland and Scotland inspection bodies or the European Commission and that the Welsh Ministers may appoint authorised officers (regulation 3). The Regulations make the failure to comply with Article 113a(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, and the provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 mentioned in the Schedule, an offence. They contain additional offences necessary for the effective enforcement of the Community marketing rules (regulation 4 and the Schedule). They exercise the derogation in Article 3(3) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 (regulation 5). This derogation exempts products presented for retail sale to consumers for their personal use from the specific marketing standards provided they are labelled “product intended for processing”, or with other equivalent wording, and the products are not intended for industrial processing. Regulation 6 provides that the powers under Parts 3 and 4 of the Regulations may not be exercised on premises, or part of any premises, used wholly as a dwelling-house. The Regulations confer powers of entry (regulation 7) and other powers (regulation 8), including seizure powers which require authorised officers to fulfil certain duties in relation to any items seized. They contain powers to affix labels indicating various types of non-conformity with the Community marketing rules (regulations 9, 10 and 11). They confer power on authorised officers to control the movement of horticultural produce and give a right of review to those served with a written notice informing of the exercise of that power (regulation 12). They confer power to affix a stop notice label warning of its exercise (regulation 13). There is provision for giving consent to the movement of controlled horticultural produce when certain conditions are met (regulation 14). Regulations 15, 16, 17 and 19 contain provisions on offences relating to controlled horticultural produce, to the obstruction of an authorised officer, to the commission of an offence due to the fault of another person and to the commission of offences by bodies corporate etc. Regulation 18 provides for defences of acting with lawful authority or exercising due diligence and taking reasonable precautions. Finally, regulation 20 provides that the penalty for offences is on summary conviction a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. A regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Welsh Assembly Government, 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