UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Disease Control (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Order 2025

the instrument as a whole of The Disease Control (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Order 2025

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Disease Control (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Order 2025.

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
1 April 2025
In force from
29 May 2025
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 three Orders which make provision relevant to the control of diseases of animals and poultry. The Avian Influenza and Influenza of Avian Origin in Mammals (Scotland) Order 2006 (“the 2006 Order”) is amended to make further provision in relation to measures to deal with any suspected or confirmed outbreak of influenza virus of avian origin in kept mammals. Minor amendments are also made to the Control of Salmonella in Poultry (Breeding, Laying and Broiler Flocks) (Scotland) Order 2009 and the Disease Control (Interim Measures) (Scotland) Order 2002. Article 2(2) amends the definition of “premises” in the 2006 Order. Consequential amendments are made in article 2(10) and 2(11). Article 2(3) inserts provision into article 4 of the 2006 Order to allow licences granted to be subject to such conditions as are considered necessary by the Scottish Ministers to control influenza virus of avian origin. Article 2(5) inserts articles 56A and 56B into the 2006 Order, which provide for measures to be taken where influenza virus of avian origin is suspected or confirmed on premises, and provide for the Scottish Ministers to grant derogations from, or discretion to impose, some of these measures. Consequential amendments are made in article 2(4). Article 2(6) inserts article 57A into the 2006 Order, which provides for the ascertainment and amount of compensation the Scottish Ministers are to pay for mammals slaughtered due to influenza virus of avian origin. Article 2(8) inserts provision into article 59 of the 2006 Order to apply the measures set out in schedule 8 to contact premises. Article 2(9) inserts provision into article 60 of the 2006 Order to allow the Scottish Ministers, having carried out a risk assessment, to impose measures on premises if considered necessary to reduce the risk of transmission of avian influenza or influenza virus of avian origin. Article 2(12) inserts schedules 8 and 9 into the 2006 Order, which provide for the measures where influenza virus of avian origin is suspected or confirmed on premises. Consequential amendments are made in article 2(7). Article 3 amends article 11 of the Control of Salmonella in Poultry (Breeding, Laying and Broiler Flocks) (Scotland) Order 2009 and extends the requirement for records to be kept of movements of poultry to movements from breeding and laying flocks. Article 4 inserts paragraph 7A into schedule 1 of the Disease Control (Interim Measures) (Scotland) Order 2002, which makes the movement of a sheep to premises to be treated for sheep scab an exemption to the standstill requirement provided by article 3 of that Order.

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