UK Offence Report

Offences and defence of due diligence

regulation 21(1) of Processed Animal Protein Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (revoked)

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 contravening or failing to comply with any provision of these Regulations, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

a on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months or to both;

b on conviction on indictment, to

a fine or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years or to 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 21(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Processed Animal Protein Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
19 November 2001
In force from
10 December 2001
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 Northern Ireland to Council Decision 2000/766/EC (O.J. No. L306, 7.12.2000, p. 32) concerning certain protection measures with regard to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of animal protein (as amended by Commission Regulation (E.C.) No. 1326/2001 (O.J. No. L177, 30.6.2001, p. 60) and Commission Decision 2001/9/EC (O.J. No. L2, 5.1.2001, p. 32)) concerning control measures required for the implementation of Council Decision 2000/766/EC. Regulation 2 contains definitions including a definition of farmed animal as an animal which is kept, fattened or bred for the production of food. Regulation 3 provides that the Regulations apply in relation to processed animal protein intended for the feeding of farmed animals and that the Regulations do not apply to catering waste or eggs and egg products. Subject to exceptions, regulation 4 prohibits the feeding of processed animal protein to farmed animals. Regulation 5 and Schedule 1 make provision in relation to the production of fishmeal for feeding to farmed animals other than ruminants; this includes provision for the approval of premises, the use of premises and the transport, including intermediate storage, of fishmeal from approved premises. Regulations 6 and 7 and Schedules 2 and 3 make similar provision respectively in relation to the production of dicalcium phosphate and hydrolysed protein for feeding to farmed animals other than ruminants. Regulation 8 makes provision for approval of premises, suspension and withdrawal of approval. Regulation 9 makes provision for the sale or supply of processed animal protein intended for the feeding of farmed animals. Regulation 10 regulates trade with other member States and regulation 11 regulates trade with third countries. Regulation 12 makes provision for the manufacture of feedingstuffs. Regulation 13 makes provision for the production of feedingstuffs containing fishmeal for farmed animals other than ruminants. Regulation 14 makes provision for the production of feedingstuffs containing dicalcium phosphate for feeding to farmed animals other than ruminants. Regulation 15 makes provision for the production of feedingstuffs containing hydrolysed protein for feeding to farmed animals other than ruminants. Regulation 16 makes provision for the use and storage of feedingstuffs containing fishmeal, dicalcium phosphate or hydrolysed protein. Regulation 17 imposes requirements in respect of records relating to processed animal protein and regulation 18 makes provision in respect of powers of entry. Regulation 19 provides for sampling and other checks and examinations. Regulation 20 provides offences of obstruction and regulation 21 makes provision for offences and the defence of due diligence. Regulation 22 amends the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Feedingstuffs and Surveillance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.

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”
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