UK Offence Report

Requirements to use anaesthetics

regulation 16(2) of Bovine Embryo Collection, Production and Transplantation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

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 A person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence under section

2 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 16(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 contravenes paragraph (1).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Bovine Embryo Collection, Production and Transplantation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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 section 2 of the Welfare of Animals Act.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated 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
21 August 1996
In force from
2 October 1996
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 implement as respects Northern Ireland— Council Directive 89/556/EEC on animal health conditions governing intra-Community trade in and importation from third countries of embryos of domestic animals of the bovine species (O.J. No. L302, 19.10.89, p. 1); Council Directive 93/52/EEC (O.J. No. L175, 19.7.93, p. 21) which amended Directive 89/556/EEC; and Commission Decision 94/113/EEC (O.J. No. L53, 24.2.94, p. 23) which further amended Directive 89/556/EEC. The Regulations— a provide for the licensing of bovine embryo collection teams, production teams and transplantation teams (Regulations 5, 7 and 14 and Schedules 1, 2 and 6); b specify conditions to be complied with for the collection and production of bovine embryos (Regulations 6 and 8 and Schedules 3, 4, 5 and 7); c provide for the approval of stores for bovine embryos and specify the conditions to be complied with in relation to their storage (Regulations 9 to 12); d specify the conditions to be complied with in relation to the transport and transplantation of bovine embryos (Regulations 13 and 15 and Schedule 8); e require the use of anaesthetics in relation to the collection or transplantation of bovine embryos (regulation 16); f require records to be kept in relation to bovine embryos (Regulations 17 and 18); and g make transitional provisions (regulation 19) and specify a revocation (regulation 20). Any person who fails to comply with any condition subject to which a licence under these Regulations is granted, who contravenes any provision of these Regulations (other than regulation 16) or knowingly or recklessly makes a statement false in a material particular for the purposes of obtaining a licence under these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000), or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both. Any person who contravenes regulation 16 shall be guilty of an offence under section 2 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 and shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500) or to both.

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 is “guilty of an offence”; c10_offence_under_parent_act
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