UK Offence Report

Consignment and slaughter of over-age bovine animals

regulation 4 of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2008 (revoked)

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

4 If a bovine animal was born or reared in the United Kingdom before 1st August 1996, it is an offence– a to consign it to a slaughterhouse for human consumption (whether the animal is alive or dead); or b to slaughter it for human consumption in a slaughterhouse.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 4?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2008.

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
16 December 2008
In force from
1 January 2009
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 amend the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (“the principal Regulations”) which enforce Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 of European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (O.J. No L 164, 26.6.07, p.7), as amended (“the Community TSE Regulation”). Regulation 5 (the Schedules) of the principal Regulations is amended to refer to the new title of Schedule 7. Schedule 2 (monitoring for TSE and contents of a RMOP) of the principal Regulations is replaced. The substituted Schedule 2 provides at paragraphs 2 and 9 for bovine animals that die or are killed to be delivered to an approved sampling centre as defined in paragraph 13, unless the animals dies or is killed at a slaughterhouse, or in an Islands area as defined in paragraph 12. The substituted Schedule 2 also– a gives effect in Scotland to Commission Decision 2008/908/EC (O.J. No L 327, 5.12.2008, p.24), which authorises certain Member States (including the UK) to revise the annual monitoring programmes provided for by Article 6 of the Community TSE Regulation, by providing in paragraph 5 for the testing at slaughterhouses of brain stems that must be tested in accordance with the Community TSE Regulation as read with that Decision; and b making consequential changes to the provisions carried forward from the replaced Schedule 2, including changes to the Required Method of Operations provided for by paragraph 6 and Part 2 of the substituted Schedule. Failure to comply with these provisions is an offence. Schedule 2 is also amended to create new offences of failing to notify the Scottish Ministers of the death of an animal that must be delivered to an approved sampling centre, failing to deliver the body of such an animal to the centre, destroying the body before it has been sampled, and failing to retain the body at the centre until a negative test result has been obtained. Schedule 7 (restrictions on placing on the market and export) of the principal Regulations is replaced. The substituted Schedule 7 makes it an offence to place on the market and export live bovine animals and products derived from them to other Member States and to third countries, and provides that paragraphs [1 and 3] of the Schedule shall be enforced by the Food Standards Agency. Amendments are also made to the definition of “inspector” and regulations 12 and 20 of the principal Regulations in relation to the enforcement by the Food Standards Agency. Offences are punishable in accordance with regulation 18 of the principal Regulations by– a on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or imprisonment for a term of three months or both, or b on conviction on indictment, a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both. Regulation 3 provides for a consequential amendment to the Animal By-Products (Identification) Regulations 1995. Regulation 4 of these Regulations saves the effect of paragraph 1 of the replaced Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations so far as they related to bovine animals that die or are killed other than at a slaughterhouse until 12th January 2009. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument but the impact assessment for the March 2008 Responsibility and cost sharing consultation will be updated to reflect the proposed increase in the testing ages for cattle.

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