UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 16(1) of Wild Game 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

1 If any person contravenes—

a regulation 8(1); or

b regulation 11(1), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Wild Game Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

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

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
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, in part, to Council Directive 92/45/EEC (O.J. No. L.268, 14.9.92, 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 require all wild game processing facilities which consign, or sell for consignment, wild game meat to another EEA State to be licensed by the Department. Such a licence will be issued if the premises comply with the prescribed requirements as to structure and hygiene or if a work plan aimed at achieving compliance with those requirements has been agreed between the occupier of the premises and the Department (regulation 3). Premises which are already licensed under either the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations(Northern Ireland) 1997 or the Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 will not need to comply separately with the structural requirements contained in Schedule 1. A licence may be refused or granted subject to conditions (regulation 3) or revoked (regulation 4), with a right of appeal. There will be veterinary supervision of all licensed premises. The Department will appoint designated Official Veterinary Surgeons (OVSs) and inspectors to supervise licensed premises (regulation 6). The Department may revoke or suspend the designation of an OVS who is deemed to be unfit to perform his duties (regulation 7). OVSs of the Department 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 8). The Department may also authorise persons employed at the premises to act as PIAs and may also revoke and suspend such authorisations (regulation 9). The health mark is to be applied to all wild game meat produced in licensed premises which is fit for human consumption. Only persons acting under the responsibility of the OVS may apply the health mark or possess or use the health mark equipment (regulation 10). Times of operation of licensed premises are controlled (regulation 11). Subject to certain exceptions, wild game meat may not be consigned or sold for consignment to a relevant EEA State for human consumption unless it has been obtained from licensed premises or from a cold store or re-wrapping centre and been health marked; has met certain conditions regarding killing; has met the hygiene requirements specified in the Schedules; and is accompanied during transportation from licensed premises or from a cold store or re-wrapping centre by a commercial document or health certificate (regulation 12). Except in specific circumstances (where a health certificate is appropriate), the wild game meat is to be accompanied by a commercial document. The Department must keep records in respect of inspections (regulation 14) and the occupier of the premises must also keep specified records (regulation 15). The Regulations also— a specify the duties of occupiers (regulation 15); b create offences and prescribe penalties (regulation 16); c apply various provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (regulation 17); d specify the enforcement authorities (regulation 18); e make provision for wild game meat imported from Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (regulation 19); and f amend specified Regulations (regulation 20).

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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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