UK Offence Report

1 A person commits an offence if they fail to comply with an improvement notice served under regulation 10.

regulation 11(1) of The Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025

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 commits an offence if they fail to comply with an improvement notice served under regulation 10.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 11(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fail to comply with an improvement notice served under regulation 10.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

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

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
26 March 2025
In force from
26 March 2026
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 are made by the Welsh Ministers in exercise of their powers under the Food Safety Act 1990 (c. 16) and the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (c. 13). They provide for restrictions on the promotion and presentation of certain foods and drinks that are less healthy. Part 1 of these Regulations includes general interpretation provisions (regulation 2). Part 2 of these Regulations defines the food and drink (“specified food”) (regulation 3 and Schedule 1) and the businesses (“qualifying business”) (regulation 4) to which these Regulations apply. Part 3 of these Regulations sets out restrictions on the promotion and presentation of specified food. Regulation 5 prohibits a qualifying business from offering certain price promotions on specified food. Regulation 6 prohibits a qualifying business from presenting specified food in certain locations in a store. Regulation 7 prohibits a qualifying business from presenting specified food in certain locations of an online marketplace. Part 4 of these Regulations prohibits a qualifying business from offering free refill promotions on certain drinks (regulation 8). Part 5 of these Regulations is concerned with the enforcement of the restrictions. Regulation 9 requires each food authority to enforce and execute these Regulations within its area. Regulation 10 enables a food authority to serve an improvement notice on a person where it has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is failing to comply with one or more of the restrictions in regulations 5 to 8. Part 6 of these Regulations creates an offence where a person fails to comply with an improvement notice (regulation 11). This may result in an unlimited fine. Part 6 also enables a food authority to impose a fixed monetary penalty of £2,500 as a civil sanction alternative for the enforcement of an offence under regulation 11 and makes provision for the procedure relating to fixed monetary penalties (regulation 12 and Schedule 2). Where a fixed monetary penalty is imposed, this precludes a criminal conviction for the offence in respect of the act or omission giving rise to the penalty. Part 7 of these Regulations deals with supplementary and administrative matters. Regulations 13 and 14 require a food authority to publish both guidance about its use of the power to impose fixed monetary penalties and reports about the enforcement action it has taken under these Regulations. Regulation 15 requires the Welsh Ministers to review the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations and to publish a report setting out the conclusions before the end of the period of 5 years beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and at intervals not exceeding 5 years after that. Part 8 of these Regulations applies, with modifications, various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 16 and Schedule 3). The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales.

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 “commits 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