UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (Scotland) Order 2008

the instrument as a whole of The Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (Scotland) Order 2008

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 section

73 of the Animal Health Act 1981. 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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. Selling the goods under the Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (Scotland) Order 2008 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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 section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981.

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
17 April 2008
In force from
12 May 2008
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 transposes in Scotland Articles 3 and 4 of Council Directive 2002/99/EC laying down the animal health rules governing the production, processing, distribution and introduction of products of animal origin for human consumption (O.J. No. L 18, 23.1.2003, p.11) (“the Council Directive”). These Articles are also transposed by the Diseases of Poultry (Scotland) Order 2003, the Foot and Mouth Disease (Scotland) Order 2006 (S.S.I. 2006/44) and the Avian Influenza and Influenza of Avian Origin in Mammals (Scotland) Order 2006 (S.S.I. 2006/336). Other Articles of the Council Directive and other EC measures supplementing them are transposed by– a the Official Feed and Food Controls (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (S.S.I. 2007/522); b the Official Controls (Animals, Feed and Food) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (S.S.I. 2007/91); c the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (S.S.I. 2007/194); d the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/3124); e the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (S.S.I. 2007/1); and f the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (S.S.I. 2006/3). This Order also transposes, insofar as it applies to Newcastle disease, Commission Decision 2007/118/EC establishing an alternative health mark pursuant to Directive 2002/99/EC (O.J. No. L 51, 20.2.2007, p.19). This Order creates obligations in respect of animals or poultry from premises where classical swine fever, African swine fever, swine vesicular disease, rinderpest, sheep and goat plague or Newcastle disease is suspected or confirmed, and the infected area and/or protection zone and surveillance zone put in place on confirmation of one of these diseases. They also create obligations and prohibitions in respect of the meat from these animals and this poultry. Article 8 requires the detention of meat from suspect premises and the destruction of meat from infected premises. Article 9 requires tracing of meat from infected premises. Article 10 prohibits the supply or export of “restricted meat”, being untreated meat from susceptible animals from restricted areas, unless the meat is from poultry from a Newcastle disease restricted area. In that case, the meat can be traded on the domestic market provided certain requirements are satisfied. Article 11 requires slaughterhouses dealing with restricted animals or poultry and meat from those animals or that poultry to be designated and requires separation of those animals or that poultry. Detention of meat is required if disease is suspected or confirmed at the slaughterhouse. Article 12 requires game handling establishments dealing with restricted meat to be designated. Article 13 requires premises and establishments to be designated before receipt of restricted meat and requires restricted meat at those places to be kept separate from other meat. Article 14 relates to the marking of meat subject to restrictions. The health mark referred to in paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 3 is an oval mark when applied under EC Regulation 854/2004 laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (O.J. No. L 155, 30.4.2004, p.206) and a square mark (poultry) or pentagonal mark (wild game) when applied under Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2076/2005 laying down transitional arrangements for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004, (EC) No. 854/2004 and (EC) No. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Regulations (EC) No. 853/2004 and (EC) No. 854/2004. The application of the health mark is supervised by the official veterinarian The identification marks referred to in paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 are the national mark, which is square for poultry and pentagonal for wild game, and the alternative identification mark (known as “the beer mat”), which is the shape of a rounded square and depicted in the Annex to Commission Decision 2007/118/EC. Article 15 applies to the movement of restricted meat and article 16 to record keeping in respect of such meat. Articles 17 to 23 relate to enforcement. Schedule 1 sets out the legislation under which zones and areas are declared in respect of the diseases to which this Order relates. Schedule 2 sets out the treatments which must be applied to restricted meat. Schedule 3 sets out the meat marking requirements for restricted meat. Failure to comply with this Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this Order will have on the costs of business has been prepared. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Government Rural Directorate, Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY. Copies have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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