UK Offence Report

13 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces,…

article 13 of The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 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

13 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him—

a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any bovine animal or carcase under article 6(2)(c) of this Order;

b contravenes any provision of this Order or any provision of

a licence issued, or of

a notice served, under this Order;

c fails to comply with any such provision or with any condition of such

a licence or notice; or

d knowingly 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

13 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any bovine animal or carcase under article 6(2)(c) of this Order; b contravenes any provision of this Order or any provision of a licence issued, or of a notice served, un

What would breach article 13?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 1988, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. 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
27 December 1988
In force from
30 December 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order revokes and re-enacts, with certain amendments, the provisions of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1988 (“the principal Order”) as amended. The Order continues to provide for— a the compulsory notification of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“the disease”) in bovine animals (article 4); b the application of section 32 of the Animal Health Act 1981 (power to slaughter animals) to the disease and the service by a veterinary inspector of a notice of intended slaughter (in Form C) on the owner of any bovine animal which is affected, or suspected of being affected, with the disease and which the Minister proposes to cause to be slaughtered under the powers conferred on him under section 32 of the Act in its application to the disease (article 5); c the investigation by a veterinary inspector into the existence of the disease and the examination by him of bovine animals and their carcases for this purpose (article 6(1), (2) and (3)); d the imposition (by a notice in Form A served by a veterinary inspector) of certain requirements, including a prohibition on movement except under licence, in respect of a bovine animal which is affected, or suspected of being affected, with the disease (article 6(4), (5) and (6)); e the prohibition (by a notice in writing served by a veterinary inspector) of the movement of any bovine animal, except under licence, where this may give rise to the risk of the spread of the disease (article 7); f the prohibition (which will now cease to have effect on 1st January 1990 instead of 1st January 1989 and which is now subject to one exemption) of (1) the sale and supply for feeding to ruminating animals of any feedingstuff in which any animal protein (as defined in the Order) has been incorporated and (2) the feeding to ruminating animals of any such feedingstuff (article 8); g the cleansing and disinfection of premises and of equipment used in connection with a bovine animal or carcase which is affected or suspected of being affected with the disease (article 10); and h sampling of feedingstuffs, production of licences issued for the movement of bovine animals and carcases and offences (articles 11, 12 and 13). The only changes of substance made to the principal Order are the inclusion of prohibitions on (1) the sale and supply for human consumption or for feeding to animals or birds of any milk from a bovine animal which is affected or suspected of being affected with the disease (2) the use of any such milk in the manufacture of any product for sale or supply for human consumption or for feeding to animals or birds and (3) the feeding (subject to certain exemptions) of any such milk to animals or birds (article 9).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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