UK Offence Report

6 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, that person— a contravenes, or does…

regulation 6 of Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

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

6 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, that person— a contravenes, or does not comply with a duty in, regulations 3, 4 or 5; b makes an entry in a record, or gives any information for the purposes of these Regulations which they know to be false in any material particular or, for those purposes, recklessly makes a statement or gives any information which is false in any material particular; or c causes or permits any of the above.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (recklessly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

6 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, that person— a contravenes, or does not comply with a duty in, regulations 3, 4 or 5; b makes an entry in a record, or gives any information for the purposes of these Regulations which they know to be false in any material particular or, for those purposes,

What would breach regulation 6?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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.

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
30 March 2012
In force from
2 April 2012
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 revoke and remake the Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, as amended by S.R. 2002 No. 259, S.R. 2003 No. 244 and S.R. 2010 No. 339. The Regulations implement Community legislation which had previously been implemented in the Regulations mentioned above. The Community legislation which these Regulations continue to implement is— a Council Directive 1998/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes (O.J. No. L221, 8.8.98, p. 23); b Council Directive 1999/74/EC (O.J. No. L 203, 3.8.99, p. 53), laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens, in establishments with 350 or more laying hens; c Council Directive 2007/43/EC laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production (O.J. No. L 182, 12.7.07, p. 19); d Council Directive 2008/119/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves (Codified version) (O.J. No. L 10, 15.1.2009); and e Council Directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs (Codified version) (O.J. No. L 47, 18.2.2009). The Regulations (and the Community legislation which they implement) reflect the obligations contained in the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 10th March 1976, as read with the Protocol of Amendment to the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 6th February 1992. The Regulations apply to farmed animals (subject to certain limited exceptions). Regulation 3 provides that owners and keepers of animals kept for farming purposes must take reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of animals in their care and to prevent them any unnecessary pain, suffering or injury. Regulation 4 makes provision for specific additional requirements as to the conditions in which poultry, laying hens, conventionally reared meat chickens, calves, cattle, pigs or rabbits are bred or kept. Regulation 5 contains provisions to ensure that those in charge of animals have access to and are acquainted with a copy of the relevant welfare code of practice issued under section 16 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 and are acquainted with those codes of practice. Regulation 6 specifies the offences in the Regulations. Regulation 7 prescribes the penalties for a person guilty of an offence. The maximum penalty on summary conviction is 6 months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently, £5000) or both. Schedule 1 specifies the general conditions under which all farmed animals shall be kept. Schedules 2 to 9 specify the additional requirements required for keeping poultry, laying hens, conventionally reared meat chickens, calves, cattle, pigs or rabbits.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 “commits 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