UK Offence Report

Meat from a member State

paragraph 15 of SCHEDULE 7 of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018

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

15 For the purposes of point 10(1) and point 10(2) of Annex V, where carcases containing those parts of the vertebral column of

a bovine animal that are specified risk material is brought into Northern Ireland from

a member State, the importer must send it directly to

a cutting plant authorised under paragraph 13(1)(a), and failure to do so is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an importer
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 an importer 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 paragraph 15 of SCHEDULE 7?

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 Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018, 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
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
13 December 2018
In force from
3 January 2019
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, which apply in Northern Ireland, revoke and remake with amendments the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (S.R. No.406). These Regulations enforce Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ No L 147, 31.5.2001, p 1) (“the EU TSE Regulation”). The provisions in Part II identify the TSE controls that are subject to enforcement under these Regulations and introduce Schedules 2 to 8. Part III deals with administration and enforcement. Schedule 1 sets out the TSE requirements. Schedule 2 sets out the requirements for monitoring for TSE and the approval of laboratories and provides for compensation. Schedule 3 provides for TSE controls and compensation for bovine animals (cattle). Schedule 4 provides for TSE controls and compensation for ovine and caprine animals. Schedule 5 provides for TSE controls and compensation for animals that are not bovine, ovine, or caprine animals. Schedule 6 provides for restrictions to be placed on suspect feedingstuffs and for the slaughter of animals that have had access to unlawful feedingstuffs. Schedule 7 sets out the controls for dealing with specified risk material and mechanically recovered meat. Slaughtering techniques are specified in the Schedule. The Food Standards Agency are appointed as the competent authority for granting authorisations and carrying out Annex 5 duties provided for in the EU TSE Regulation. Schedule 8 deals with the export of live bovine animals and products derived from them to other member States and to third countries. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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