UK Offence Report

Summary offences

article 8 of The Importation of Animal Pathogens Order 1980

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

8 Any person who contravenes any provision of this order or of

a licence or of

a notice served under this order, or who fails to comply with any such provision, or with any condition of

a licence, or who causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance commits an offence against the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 article 8?

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 an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with any such provision, or with any condition of a licence, or who causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Importation of Animal Pathogens Order 1980, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
11 August 1980
In force from
1 October 1980
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.

This Order, which applies to Great Britain, prohibits the importation of animal pathogens or carriers of such pathogens without a licence issued by the appropriate Agriculture Minister and in accordance with any conditions of that licence. The Order contains powers for the seizure of any animal pathogen or carrier imported in contravention of the Order or in breach of any licence conditions, plus powers requiring the detention, treatment or destruction of such pathogens or carriers without compensation. The Order also contains provisions for requiring the cleansing and disinfection of places, vehicles and containers where an animal pathogen or carrier is or has been present in contravention of the provisions of the Order. The Order requires a person who has in his possession an animal pathogen or carrier which he knows to have been imported in contravention of the provisions of the Order to report the fact (together with all other relevant information) to a veterinary inspector (of the appropriate Agriculture Department) with all practicable speed. The Order makes the intentional contravention of certain provisions of the Order an indictable offence. A person convicted on indictment is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to an unlimited fine or both. The Order has no application to any animal pathogen or carrier contained in a medicinal product the importation of which is permitted under the Medicines Act 1968.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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