UK Offence Report

Offences relating to consumer information

regulation 3(2) of The Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2010 (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

2 Any person who fails to comply with Article

8 of Regulation 2065/2001 (traceability and control) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 3(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 fails to comply with Article 8 of Regulation 2065/2001 (traceability and control).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2010, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

the level is stated but no money value is given: this instrument extends outside the United Kingdom, where the standard scale set by s.122(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not run.

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
15 March 2010
In force from
6 April 2010
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 apply in relation to Wales, provide for the execution and enforcement of Title I, Chapter 2 (consumer information) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 104/2000 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products (OJ No. L17, 21.2.2000, p.22) as applied by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2065/2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No.104/2000 as regards informing consumers about fishery and aquaculture products (OJ No. L278, 23.10.2001, p.6). Title I of Chapter 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 104/2000 imposes requirements regarding the provision of information about the commercial designation, production method and catch area of certain fishery and aquaculture products offered for retail sale to the final consumer. It further provides for Member States to draw up and publish a list of commercial designations for at least the species listed in Annexes I to IV of the Regulation. Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2065/2001 describes in more detail the information to be provided to consumers and the exemptions that may be allowed. It also provides for the necessary information to be provided at each stage of the marketing process. These Regulations: provide an updated list of the commercial designations required to be drawn up by the United Kingdom (regulation 4 and the Schedule) and further provide for the granting of provisional commercial designations (regulation 8); provide for the derogation at Article 4.2 of Regulation (EC) No. 2065/2001 (circumstances in which fishery products may be sold to the final consumer without being marked or labelled with the production method) (regulation 5); in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No. 2065/2001, determine what constitutes “small quantities of products sold directly to consumers” for the purposes of applying the derogation at Article 4.1 of Regulation (EC) No. 104/2001 (regulation 6); and provide that the indication of catch area required by Article 4.1(c) of Regulation (EC) No. 104/2001 may, in accordance with Article 5(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No. 2065/2001, indicate the various Member States or third countries in which the product was farmed (regulation 7); create offences and prescribe penalties (regulation 3), specify enforcement authorities (regulation 9) and apply with modifications specified provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 10); and revoke the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/635 (W.177)) and the Fish Labelling (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/1339 (W.131)) (regulation 11). A full regulatory impact assessment has been undertaken in respect of these Regulations and is available from the Food Standards Agency, 11th Floor, South Gate House, Wood Street, 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