UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (Wales) Regulations 2020

the instrument as a whole of The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (Wales) Regulations 2020

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (Wales) Regulations 2020.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
30 January 2020
In force from
Not determined
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 to Wales, make provision to enforce Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/127 of 25 September 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No. 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the specific compositional and information requirements for infant formula and follow-on formula and as regards requirements on information relating to infant and young child feeding (OJ No. L 25, 2.2.2016, p. 1, “the Delegated Regulation”). These Regulations make provision for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c. 68) and references in them to provisions of the Delegated Regulation are to be construed as references to such provisions as they are amended from time to time. Regulation 3 provides that each food authority must execute and enforce these Regulations within its area. Regulation 2(1) contains a definition of “food authority”. Regulation 4 and Schedule 2 apply, with modifications, certain provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (c. 16) for the purposes of these Regulations. Regulation 5 and Schedule 3 make provision for revocations and savings as a consequence of these Regulations. The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/3573 W. 316) (“the 2007 Regulations”) and the provisions which amend those Regulations are revoked. The 2007 Regulations implement Commission Directive 2006/141/EC of 22 December 2006 on infant formulae and follow-on formulae and amending Directive 1999/21/EC (OJ No. L 401, 30.12.2006, p. 1) and Council Directive 95/52/EEC on infant formulae and follow-on formulae intended for export to third countries (OJ No. L 179, 1.7.1992, p. 129). Article 13 of the Delegated Regulation repeals that Directive with effect from 22 February 2020, and from 22 February 2021 in the case of infant formula and follow-on formula manufactured from protein hydrolysates. Regulation 5 of these Regulations further provides for the revocations to be saved for the purposes of the transitional arrangements in that regulation. Those transitional arrangements provide that where infant formula or follow-on formula has been placed on the market or labelled prior to the date of application of the Delegated Regulation (22 February 2020 or, in the case of infant formula or follow-on formula manufactured from protein hydrolysates, 22 February 2021), it may continue to be marketed until stocks are exhausted, provided that certain requirements are met. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.

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 0.57.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.57 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