UK Offence Report

1 It shall be an offence for any person or organisation to fail to comply with the provisions of these…

regulation 25(1) of The Horse Passports (Scotland) Regulations 2005

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 It shall be an offence for any person or organisation to fail to comply with the provisions of these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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 25(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 it is an offence to fail to comply with the provisions of these Regulations.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Horse Passports (Scotland) Regulations 2005, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

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

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Horse Identification (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (revoked)
Revoked on
1 July 2009
Made
21 April 2005
In force from
16 May 2005
Extent
S

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

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 Scotland, implement Council Directive 90/426/EEC (O.J. No. L 224, 18/8/1990, p.42), Council Directive 90/427/EEC (O.J. No. L 224, 18/8/1990, p.55) and Commission Decisions 92/353/EEC (O.J. No. L 192, 11/07/1992, p.63), 93/623/EEC (O.J. No. L 298, 3/12/93, p.45) and 2000/68/EC (O.J. No. L 23, 28.1.00, p.72). They revoke and replace the Horse Passports Order 1997 and the Horse Passports (Amendment) Order 1998, with transitional provisions. The Regulations specify which organisations are authorised to issue passports and give them powers and duties (regulations 3 to 6), make provision for applications for and issue of passports (regulations 7 to 11 and Schedule 1), specify the languages of passports (regulation 12) and make provision for horses entering Scotland (regulation 1). The Regulations make requirements concerning the declaration to be made on the passport relating to slaughter for human consumption (regulation 14). The Regulations prohibit defacement of passports and make provision for the replacement of lost passports (regulations 15 and 1). The Regulations provide that, on or after 16th August 2005, horses must be accompanied by their passports when moved for certain purposes (regulation 17). A duty is imposed on a veterinary surgeon to mark a passport when veterinary medicines are administered (regulation 1). The Regulations make provision, to take effect on or after 16th August 2005, relating to the sale of a horse (regulation 19) and relating to the slaughter of a horse (regulations 20 and 21). Provision is made relating to the powers of inspectors, and to obstruction (regulations 1 and 24). Under regulations 1 and 26 breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable– a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to three months imprisonment, or to both, and b on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for two years or a fine, or both. The Regulations are enforced by the local authority (regulation 1). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Animal Health and Welfare Branch, Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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