UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 18 of The Fresh Meat Export (Hygiene and Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1987

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

18 Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable –

a on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding £2,000;

b on conviction on indictment to

a fine or to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding one year, or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 18?

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 contravenes or fails to comply with any requirement of these Regulations.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Fresh Meat Export (Hygiene and Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  3. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  4. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
1 year

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
29 April 1987
In force from
11 June 1987
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 apply to Scotland only and come into force on 11th June 1987. The Regulations revoke and re-enact the provisions of the Fresh Meat Export (Hygiene and Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1981 and subsequent amending instruments, which implemented in part the provisions of Council Directive No. 64/433/EEC (OJ No. 121, 29.7.1964, p. 2012/64; OJ/SE 1963-64, p. 185) on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat, as amended by Council Directive No. 66/601/EEC (OJ No. 192, 27.10.1966, p. 3302/66; OJ/SE 1965-66, p. 244), Council Directive No. 69/349/EEC (OJ No. L256, 11.10.1969, p. 5; OJ/SE 1969 (II), p. 432), Council Directive No. 83/90/EEC (OJ No. L59, 5.3.1983, p.10) and the Act annexed to the Treaty of Accession to the European Economic Community (Annex I(II)(F)– Cmnd 5179 I). These Regulations in addition implement Council Directive No. 86/587/EEC (OJ No. L399, 2.12.86, p.26). The Regulations apply to fresh meat of domestic bovine animals (including buffalo), swine, sheep, goats and solipeds. They prescribe conditions which must be satisfied for the production, cutting up, storage and transport of such meat when it is intended for export, or for sale for export, to a Member State of the EEC for human consumption. In particular, the Regulations – a provide that only premises which are approved by the Secretary of State may be used for the production, cutting up, storage and loading of fresh meat for intra-Community trade, and that such premises must comply with prescribed requirements as to structure and hygiene (regulations 4 to 7 and 10 and Schedules 1 to 4); and b lay down requirements as to slaughter, dressing and cutting practices, ante-and post-mortem inspection, hygiene, health control of cut meat, health marking, certification, storage, wrapping, packing and transport of such meat (regulations 8 to 11 and Schedules 5 to 15). Apart from the approval, suspension and revocation of approval of premises for intra-Community trade (regulations 4 to 6), which are functions of the Secretary of State, enforcement of the Regulations is the responsibility of local authorities (regulation 17). They are required to provide the necessary supervision and inspection resources at approved premises (regulation 12), for which they may make charges (regulation 13). The Regulations also make provision for powers of entry by persons authorised by the Secretary of State or local authorities (regulation 14) and concerning offences and penalties (regulation 18). The Regulations do not affect the application as appropriate to export-approved premises of the provisions of the Slaughter of Animals (Prevention of Cruelty) (Scotland) Regulations 1955, the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 1959, the Food (Meat Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1961, the Slaughter of Animals (Stunning Pens) (Scotland) Regulations 1963 or the Slaughterhouse Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 1978, except that they disapply (in regulation 19 of these Regulations) certain provisions of the said Food (Meat Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1961.

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 is “guilty of 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