UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 20(2) of Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

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 If any person contravenes— a any other provision of these Regulations; or b a condition imposed by the Department under regulation 5(4), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable— i on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; or ii on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 a condition of a licence, permit or consent
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 20(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. Holding a valid licence but doing the thing it allows outside the hours, place or limits its conditions set under the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997.
  2. Failing to do something a condition positively requires - a record, a notification, a monitoring step - even though the licensed activity itself is carried on properly.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
13 November 1997
In force from
8 December 1997
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 give effect to Council Directive 91/497/EEC (OJ No. L.268, 24.9.91, p. 69) which amends and updates Directive 64/433/EEC on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat to extend it to the production and marketing of fresh meat, and in part to Council Directive 91/495/EEC (O.J. No. L.268, 24.9.91, p. 41) concerning public health and animal health problems affecting the production and the placing on the market of farmed game meat and Council Directive 92/45/EEC (O.J. No. L.268, 16.6.92, p. 35) on public health and animal health problems relating to the killing of wild game and the placing on the market of wild game meat. The Regulations do not apply to premises where fresh meat is used exclusively for the production of meat products, meat preparations, minced meat and mechanically recovered meat or to premises where fresh meat is cut up or repackaged for sale to the final consumer from those premises or to premises used for carcase competitions or to cold stores (subject to specified restrictions); fresh meat intended for exhibitions, special studies or analysis, or for sale to international organisations; and fresh meat not intended for human consumption (regulation 3). Slaughterhouses, cutting premises, re-packaging centres, cold stores, farmed game handling facilities and farmed game processing facilities must have a current licence issued by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (“the Department”). Such a licence will be issued only if the premises comply with the prescribed requirements as to structure and hygiene (regulation 4). There are different structural requirements for low throughput slaughterhouses, cutting premises and farmed game processing facilities (regulation 4(2); Schedule 5 and Part III of Schedule 6). The slaughter of farmed game at a farmed game handling facility is permitted subject to certain conditions (regulation 4(2) and Part I of Schedule 6). A licence may be refused or revoked subject to a right of appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction (regulations 4 and 5). Slaughterhouses and farmed game handling facilities may not be used for the slaughter of animals not intended for human consumption except in specified circumstances (regulation 6(3)). There will be veterinary supervision of all licensed premises. The Department will appoint designated official veterinary surgeons and Meat Inspectors to supervise licensed premises (regulation 7). The Department may revoke or suspend the designation of an official veterinary surgeon who is deemed to be unfit to perform his duties (regulation 8). Official veterinary surgeons may prohibit the use of equipment or the use of part of the premises or reduce the rate of operations and a person aggrieved by such a decision may appeal (regulation 9). The requirement to apply the health mark applies to fresh meat produced in all licensed premises. The Department is required to provide the health marking equipment and to arrange for the mark to be applied to fresh meat which has been passed as fit for human consumption (regulation 10(2)). Times of operation of licensed premises are controlled (regulation 11). Fresh meat may not be sold or offered for sale for human consumption unless it has been obtained from licensed premises, has met the hygiene requirements specified in the Schedules and is accompanied by a commercial document or health certificate (regulations 12 and 13). An official veterinary surgeon or a Meat Inspector can in certain circumstances prohibit the slaughter or the dressing of an animal in a slaughterhouse (regulation 14), and an official veterinary surgeon may permit an animal to be kept in a lairage in exceptional circumstances for more than 72 hours (regulation 15). Conditions are laid down regarding the documentation to accompany a diseased or injured animal to a slaughterhouse (regulation 16); similarly, specified conditions must be complied with before a dead or slaughtered animal is brought into a slaughterhouse (regulation 17). The Department must keep records in respect of inspections (regulation 18) and the occupier of licensed premises must also keep specified records (regulation 19). The Regulations create offences and prescribe penalties (regulation 20), apply various Articles of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (regulation 21), make provision for fresh meat produced in Great Britain or the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands (regulation 23) and contain amendments, repeals and revocations (regulations 24 and 25).

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