UK Offence Report

Offence in respect of EU Control Regulation

regulation 17(1) of The Animal By-Products (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 (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 An offence is committed by any person to whom an animal by-product requirement applies if that person fails to comply with or contravenes such

a requirement.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 17(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 Animal By-Products (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, 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
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
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
18 March 2011
In force from
19 March 2011
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 enforce Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002. (O.J. No L 300, 14.11.2009, p 1) (“the EU Control Regulation”). These Regulations also enforce Regulation No. 142/2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and implementing Council Directive 97/78/EC as regards certain samples and items exempt from veterinary checks at the border under that Directive (the “EU Implementing Regulation”) (O.J. No L 54, 26.02.2011) that provides technical supplementation of those requirements of the EU Control Regulation. Under the EU Control Regulation there are obligations on operators in relation to animal by-products, including obligations as to disposal and use, prohibitions on feeding, and placing on the market. In addition, there are requirements for operators, plants and establishments to be registered or approved. The obligations vary according to the categorisation of the material, the higher risk animal by-product is categorised as Category 1 material, next in risk is Category 2 and then Category 3 material. The EU Implementing Regulation, supplements the requirements of the EU Control Regulation. These Regulations enable decisions by member states to be made including the appointment of a Department as the competent authority. The Regulations allow the member state to derogate from the obligations and also enable the Department to make authorisations in relation to specified obligations. These Regulations provide for the following. 1 The competent authority is designated as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and also for varying matters that supplement the basic obligations, including designation of remote areas and also access in relation to prohibitions on feeding in Article 11 of the EU Control Regulation (Part II). 2 Procedure and appeals in respect of registration and approval (Part III). 3 Enforcement of the requirements by providing for offences including breach of the requirements of the EU Control Regulation as identified in the Table to Schedule 1 (which identifies relevant authorisations of the Department) (Part IV). The Table sets out the requirements of the EU Control Regulation as supplemented by the requirements of the EU Implementing Regulation and these Regulations, where applicable. The requirements enable the Department to make authorisations in respect of such requirements as laid down in those requirements. Such authorisations enable the Department to determine whether or not a product is a risk to human or animal health for example. A full list of all the authorisations that are provided for under the requirements will be made available on the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development website at (www.dardni.gov.uk). In addition that website will also make available the authorisations exercised by the Department. 4 Enforcement, by appointing enforcement authorities and making provision for powers of enforcement (Part V). 5 Consequential provisions (Part VI) and revocations and transitional provisions (Part VII). In particular, these Regulations revoke the Animal By-Products Regulations 2003 S.R. 2003 No.495. An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument has been prepared and is available on Department of Agriculture and Rural Development website (www.dardni.gov.uk).

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 0.55.

Basis
c06_offence_committed
Confidence
0.55 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