UK Offence Report

PART 2A Types of invasive plants specified for the purposes of section 14ZC(1)(b) of the 1981 Act (types of…

SCHEDULE of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Keeping and Release and Notification Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2019

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

PART 2A Types of invasive plants specified for the purposes of section 14ZC(1)(b) of the 1981 Act (types of plant which it is an offence for

a person to keep, have in their possession or have under their control) Common name Scientific name Column (1) Column (2) American skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus Curly waterweed Lagarosiphon major Floating pennywort Hydrocotyle ranunculoides Floating primrose-willow Ludwigia peploides Giant hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum Giant-rhubarb Gunnera tinctoria Indian balsam Impatiens glandulifera Japanese stiltgrass Microstegium vimineum Nuttall’s waterweed Elodea nuttallii Parrot’s feather Myriophyllum aquaticum Persian hogweed Heracleum persicum Sosnowsky’s hogweed Heracleum sosnowskyi Various-leaved water-milfoil Myriophyllum heterophyllum Water primrose Ludwigia grandiflora

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

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 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Keeping and Release and Notification Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2019.

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
13 February 2019
In force from
1 April 2019
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 amends the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Keeping and Release and Notification Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2012 (“the 2012 Order”), which (amongst other things) specifies types of invasive animal for the purposes of section 14ZC(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (“the 1981 Act”). The types of animal so specified are listed in Part 2 of schedule 1 to the 2012 Order. In accordance with section 14ZC(1)(a), it is an offence for any person to keep, have in their possession or have under their control any such animal. This Order makes provision in relation to the implementation of Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p.35). It adds types of invasive animal to Part 2 of schedule 1 of the 2012 Order (article 2(2)), thereby making it an offence for a person to keep, have in their possession or have under their control any such animal. It also inserts article 3A into the 2012 Order, which specifies types of invasive plant for the purposes of section 14ZC(1)(b) of the 1981 Act, and inserts Part 2A into schedule 1 which lists the types of plant so specified. As a result, it is an offence for any person to keep, have in their possession or have under their control any such plant. A person guilty of an offence under section 14ZC(1)(a) or (b) of the 1981 Act is liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding £40,000 or to both; and on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or an unlimited fine, or to both. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Scottish Government and online at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.90.

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