UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 19 of The Food (Meat Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1988

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

19 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 19?

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 Food (Meat Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1988 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
17 August 1988
In force from
1 November 1988
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, which apply to Scotland only, revoke and re-enact with amendments the provisions of the Food (Meat Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 1961. They apply to fresh meat of domestic bovine animals (including buffalo), swine, sheep, goats, solipeds and farmed deer. They prescribe conditions which must be satisfied for the production of meat intended for sale for human consumption on the domestic market. In particular, the Regulations— a lay down requirements as to ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection and health marking of such meat (regulations 3 to 6 and Schedules 2 to 4); b make provision for the slaughter of animals elsewhere than in a slaughterhouse (regulations 7 to 9). Enforcement of the Regulations is the responsibility of local authorities (regulation 18). They are required— a to determine the hours between which animals may be slaughtered in slaughterhouses (regulation 11); b to make charges for inspections carried out in pursuance of the Regulations (regulations 15 and 16 and Schedule 7); and c to keep records relating to the slaughter of animals in each area (regulation 12 and Schedule 5). The Regulations also make provision for the qualifications of veterinary meat inspectors and meat inspectors (regulations 13 and 14 and Schedule 6), and for offences and penalties (regulation 19).

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