UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Cattle Identification (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

regulation 2(3) of The Animals (Identification, Records, Movement and Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025

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

3 In regulation 3— a for paragraph (1), substitute— 1 Any person who contravenes any of the following provisions of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence, that is to say— a paragraph (1)(a) and (b) of Article 102; b Article 102(3). ; b in paragraph (2), for “paragraph (1)(c)”, substitute “paragraph (1)(a)”; c in paragraph (3), for “Articles 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4d, 7.3 and 7.4 of the Council Regulation”, substitute “Articles 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 44 of the Commission Regulation and Articles 102(3), 104 and 111 of the Council Regulation”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 2(3)?

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 contravenes any of the following provisions of the Council Regulation.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Animals (Identification, Records, Movement and Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
23 January 2025
In force from
24 January 2025
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 are made in exercise of powers conferred by sections 11 and 22 of, paragraphs 11M(1), (3) and (8) of Part 1C of Schedule 2 and paragraph 21(b) of Schedule 7 to, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. They ensure that Northern Ireland secondary legislation relating to animal identification, registration and movement can continue to function following the introduction of EU Regulation No. 2016/429, Animal Health Law, on the 21 April 2021. These Regulations amend domestic legislation by replacing references to the repealed EU legislation with the new provisions in EU Regulation No. 2016/429. Other amendments include extending the definition of animals to include the offspring of crossing of certain species and applying a consistent approach to the definition of keeper. These Regulations will also revoke provisions contained in the Cattle Identification (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 No. 279 which were transitionary and are no longer required. An impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary 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 0.92.

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