UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 7 of The Animals and Fresh Meat (Hormonal Substances) Regulations 1988 (revoked)

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

7 If any person without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation

4 of these Regulations he shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding £2000.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

7 If any person without reasonable excuse contravenes regulation 4 of these Regulations he shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2000.

What would breach regulation 7?

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 Animals and Fresh Meat (Hormonal Substances) Regulations 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
6 May 1988
In force from
7 June 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 throughout the United Kingdom, come into force on 1st May 1988. They implement in part Council Directive 81/602/EEC (OJ No. L222, 7.8.81, p.32) concerning the prohibition of certain substances having a hormonal action and of any substances having a thyrostatic action, Council Directive 85/358/EEC (OJ No. L191, 23.7.85, p.46) supplementing Directive 81/602/EEC and Council Directive 88/146/EEC (OJ No. L70, 16.3.88, p.16) prohibiting the use in livestock farming of certain substances having a hormonal action. Regulation 4 prohibits the sale and slaughter for consumption of animals to which have been administered hormonal substances other than authorised substances for which, in the case of slaughter for human consumption, the withdrawal period has elapsed since administration. Regulations 5 and 6 make provision in relation to the application to hormonal substances of the Animals and Fresh Meat (Examination for Residues) Regulations 1988 (S.I. 1988/848). For the purposes of those Regulations, regulation 5 confirms the hormonal substances which are authorised substances and prohibited substances and the maximum level prescribed for authorised substances. In implementation of Directive 85/358/EEC, regulation 6 specifies modifications to the provisions of those Regulations. Offences and penalties for contravention of regulation 4 are prescribed by regulation 7.

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