UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) Order 1989

the instrument as a whole of The Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) Order 1989

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

67 of the Medicines Act 1968. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Selling the goods under the Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) Order 1989 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 67 of the Medicines Act 1968.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) (No. 2) Order 1989
Revoked on
1 January 1990
Made
21 June 1989
In force from
31 July 1989
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order consolidates with amendments the Medicines (Exemptions from Restrictions on the Retail Sale or Supply of Veterinary Drugs) Order 1985, as amended, and implements in part the provisions of Article 13 of Council Directive 70/524/EEC (OJ No. L270, 14.12.70, p.1 (OJ/SE 1970 (III) p.840)) concerning additives in feeding-stuffs, as substituted by Article 1 of Council Directive 84/587/EEC (OJ No. L 319, 8.12.84, p.13). The Order continues to provide for certain exemptions from the restrictions imposed by section 52 of the Medicines Act 1968 ("the Act"). Section 52 restricts the retail sale or supply of medicinal products not on a general sale list (a general sale list being a list of medicinal products which are specified in an order under section 51 of the Act and which may be freely sold) to sale or supply from a registered pharmacy by or under the supervision of a pharmacist. The Order continues to exempt from section 52 the retail sale or supply of any veterinary drug described in article 3(1) by product licence holders, by specially authorised persons (as defined in article 2(1)) or by persons carrying on a business involving, at least in part, the retail sale of agricultural requisites ("merchants"), provided that the relevant conditions are satisfied articles 3(1) and (2) and 4). Additionally, the Order exempts merchants selling or supplying veterinary drugs described in article 3(3)(a) or (b) where the drugs are sold or supplied to fish farmers or to persons registered in a Register of Manufacturers kept by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain ("the Society") or the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland under regulation 6(1) of the Medicines (Medicated Animal Feeding Stuffs) Regulations 1988, provided that the relevant conditions are satisfied (articles 3(3) to (5) and 4). In the case of veterinary drugs described in article 3(1) or (3)(a) or (b), these conditions include a requirement that merchants be registered in a Register of Merchants in veterinary drugs kept by the Society or the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland (article 4(4)). Detailed requirements continue to be set out in the Order relating to registration in that Register, including provision for payment of fees and giving an undertaking to comply with a specified Code of Practice (article 5). The Order also continues to exempt from section 52 the retail sale or supply of specified veterinary drugs for incorporation in animal feeding stuffs where the sale or supply is by product licence holders, by specially authorised persons or by persons carrying on a business wholly or mainly comprising the sale or supply in bulk of veterinary drugs, provided that certain conditions are satisfied (article 6). The Order also continues to exempt from section 52 the retail sale or supply of any veterinary drug described in article 7(1)(a) (horse wormers) by product licence holders, by specially authorised persons, by merchants or by persons carrying on a saddlery business (as defined in article 2(1)), provided that specified conditions are complied with (article 7). In the case of merchants and persons carrying on a saddlery business, these conditions include a requirement that they be registered in the appropriate register kept by the Society or the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland (articles 7(5) and 8). Further exemptions continue to be given in respect of the retail sale or supply of specified drugs in a registered pharmacy by persons acting on behalf of a pharmacist and to the supply of specified drugs by a pharmacist subsequent to retail sale (article 9) and in cases involving another person’s default (article 10). The Codes of Practice referred to in the Order are priced publications and are available from MAFF Publications Unit, Willowburn Estate, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 2PF.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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