UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 33(1) of The African Horse Sickness Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013

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 is guilty of an offence if that person fails to comply with any of the following provisions—

a regulation 3(4) (occupier to give reasonable assistance to enable any other occupier to comply with obligations);

b regulation 3(5) (occupier to take reasonable steps to inform other occupiers of movement restrictions arising from notice);

c regulation 5(1) or (2) (requirement to notify Department of suspect horse or carcase etc);

d regulation 7(7)(a)(i), (ii) or (iii) (prohibition on movement of notified horse carcase or thing; or other horses);

e regulation 7(7)(b)(i) or (ii) (obligation to move horses and identify vectors etc);

f regulation 11(3) (prohibition on persons moving horses onto premises);

g regulation 13(5)(a), (b) or (c) (controls relating to slaughterhouses);

h regulation 16(4) (prohibition on unlicensed movement within temporary control zone);

i paragraph

1 of Schedule 2 (prohibition on unlicensed movement out of protection zone or out of surveillance zone to an area free from restrictions);

j paragraph

2 of Schedule 2 (prohibition on unlicensed movement of asses etc or movement of horses showing clinical signs of African horse sickness);

k regulation 20(3) (obligation to comply with restrictions and measures imposed by declaration under regulation 16(5) or 17(7));

l regulation 23 (prohibition on vaccination);

m regulation 24(2) (requirement to vaccinate in accordance with declaration of vaccination zone);

n regulation 25(1) or (2) (requirement to identify vaccinated horse and to keep records; prohibition on unlicensed movement of vaccinated horse);

o regulation 26(2) (requirement to comply with notice);

p regulation 27(2)(a) or (b) (requirement to carry licence or copy; requirement to produce etc licence);

q regulation 27(4)(a), (b) or (c) (requirement to carry document; requirement to produce etc document; requirement to keep document);

r regulation 30 (obligation on new occupier to allow entry for purposes of feeding or welfare);

s regulation 32 (obstruction);

t paragraph 1, 2, or

4 of Schedule 1 (requirement to keep records etc; requirement as to housing of horses; requirement to implement vector control);

u paragraph

3 of Schedule 1 (prohibition on unlicensed movement).

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
obstructing an official exercising a power
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 33(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with any of the following provisions— a regulation 3(4) (occupier to give reasonable assistance to enable any other occupier to comply with obligations).
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the African Horse Sickness Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

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

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
11 October 2013
In force from
18 November 2013
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 implement the provisions of Directive 92/35/EEC laying down control measures to combat African horse sickness virus (O.J. L No. 157, 10.6.1992, p. 19). They amend a provision of the Specified Diseases (Notification) Order (Northern Ireland) 2004 insofar as it applies to African horse sickness virus. Part I is introductory. Part II deals with notification of suspicion of African horse sickness virus. Part III and Schedule 1 deal with premises where African horse sickness virus is suspected or confirmed. They also deal with premises which have a link with infected premises and make provision, following the declaration of premises as infected premises, to prevent horses from being brought onto other premises due to the risk of African horse sickness virus spreading. Part IV deals with slaughterhouses. Part V deals with suspicion relating to non-captive horses. Part VI makes provision for the establishment of control, protection and surveillance zones. Schedule 1 applies in the control zone, and Schedule 2 applies to the protection and surveillance zone. Part VII prohibits vaccination against African horse sickness virus except in the circumstances set out there. Part VIII contains provisions relating to inspection and enforcement. Breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable, on summary conviction, with a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or both, or, on conviction on indictment, with a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

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