UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Food (Animals and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) (No.2) (Scotland)…

the instrument as a whole of The Food (Animals and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) (No.2) (Scotland) Order 1999

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Moving the goods across the border under the Food (Animals and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) (No.2) (Scotland) Order 1999 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 10(2), 33 and 35 of the Food Safety Act 1990.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
19 August 1999
In force from
20 August 1999
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order, which applies to Scotland, revokes and re-enacts with certain changes, the Food (Animals and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Order 1999 (S.S.I.1999/14 ) (“the revoked Order”) and implements in Scotland, in relation to food and food sources– Commission Decision 1999/449/EC on protective measures with regard to contamination by dioxins of certain products of animal origin intended for human or animal consumption (OJ No. L175, 10.7.1999, p.70) and Commission Decision 1999/551/EC amending Decision 1999/449/EC on protective measures with regard to contamination by dioxins of certain products of animal origin intended for human consumption (OJ No. L209, 7.8.1999, p.42). Like the revoked Order, this Order defines ‘relevant animal and animal product' (article 1(2)), prohibits (with exceptions (article 2)) the carrying out of commercial operations relating to relevant animal and animal products (article 3), specifies the enforcement authorities (article 4) and applies with modifications provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (article 5). In addition to making minor and drafting changes to the revoked Order, the Order, by referring to Decision 1999/449/EC and Decision 1999/551/EC, makes the following changes of substance– a it extends the coverage of the revoked Order so that it applies not just (as before) to live domestic fowls, hatching eggs and products derived from domestic fowls, pigs and bovine animals, but also to all other live poultry, and hatching eggs and products derived therefrom; b the rearing periods, on the basis of which the controls described in paragraph (a) apply, now commence on 15th January 1999 and the closure dates previously applicable to pigs and bovine animals, and to products derived from them (3rd June 1999) and to live domestic fowls, and hatching eggs and products derived from them (1st June 1999), no longer apply; c it varies the certification required for the importation from Belgium of products controlled by this Order; and d it extends (to include fresh pig meat and beef meat, and derived products) the range of products in relation to which the controls contained in this Order do not apply where analysis shows that the level of contamination by dioxins does not exceed the relevant maximum level for PCB set out in Annex A to Decision 1999/449/EC as amended.

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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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