Animal deaths or lost or stolen animals

Q: Is regulation 10(4) of Cattle Passport Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 a strict liability offence?

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.

regulation 10(4) of Cattle Passport Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Status not determined
Strict liability
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlife

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

4 Any person who fails to comply with any requirement of this regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 10(4)?

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.

On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with any requirement of this regulation.
Being served with a notice under the Cattle Passport Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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.

Animal cruelty: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017
Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 9 July 1999
In force from: 3 September 1999
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

These Regulations make provision for the administration and enforcement in Northern Ireland of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals (O.J. No. L354, 30.12.97, p. 19). Part II of the Regulations deals with cattle passports for animals consigned into or out of Northern Ireland after the coming into force of these Regulations. The Regulations provide for the enforcement of the provision of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 relating to movement of cattle without a cattle passport. Regulation 3 makes provision for application for cattle passports and, with regulation 5, makes it an offence to consign cattle out of Northern Ireland without a cattle passport. Regulation 4 requires the person currently holding a cattle passport to surrender it for inspection on demand. The Regulations provide for completion of a cattle passport when the animal is moved, require the retention of cattle passports once granted and make provision for lost cattle passports and fees for replacement cattle passports (regulations 6 and 9). The Regulations make provision for cattle brought into Northern Ireland from another member State or other parts of the United Kingdom (regulation 8). They also provide for cattle passing through Northern Ireland in transit (regulation 7). Regulation 10 deals with the return of cattle passports when animals die, or are stolen or slaughtered and regulation 11 makes it an offence to alter or deface a cattle passport. Part III amends the Cattle Identification (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 (regulation 12) and deals with penalties (regulation 13). For any offence under these Regulations the penalty is on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both; or on conviction on indictment, a fine or imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

Alterationsregulation 11
Application for a passport for cattle intended for exportregulation 3(3)
Production on demandregulation 4(2)
Consignment of animals out of Northern Irelandregulation 5
Completion of cattle passports when cattle are to be consigned out of Northern Irelandregulation 6(3)
Movement of cattle through Northern Irelandregulation 7
Cattle from other member States, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islandsregulation 8(3)
Lost cattle passportsregulation 9(6)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
Cattle Passport Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlifeOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1999