UK Offence Report

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

article 13 of The Poultry Laying Flocks (Testing and Registration etc.) Order 1989

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, contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this Order 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

13 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this Order commits an offence against the Act.

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. On these words an offence is committed where a person proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this Order.
  2. Being served with a notice under the Poultry Laying Flocks (Testing and Registration etc.) Order 1989 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
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
19 October 1989
In force from
26 October 1989
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 which revokes the Testing of Poultry Flocks Order 1989 and the Poultry Laying Flocks (Collection and Handling of Eggs and Control of Vermin) Order 1989 requires the owner or person in charge of a laying flock, that is to say a flock of poultry consisting of not less than 25 birds which are kept for the production of eggs for human consumption (including birds reared for that purpose) or of less than 25 birds the eggs of which are sold for human consumption, to ensure that samples are taken in respect of the flock and are submitted to a laboratory for testing for the presence of salmonella (article 3 and Schedule 1). The Order also requires the person in charge of a laboratory to which any such sample has been submitted for testing to ensure that the test is carried out in a required manner and that the result of the test is reported to the person who submitted the sample and who, if he is not the owner or person in charge of the flock in respect of which the sample was taken, is required to pass the report to the owner or person in charge of the flock (article 4). In addition, the Order requires the owner or person in charge of a laying flock to – 1 comply with certain specified requirements relating to the collection and handling of eggs from the flock (article 5 and Schedule 2); 2 ensure that effective measures are taken to control vermin in poultry houses on the premises on which the flock is kept (article 6); and 3 keep records of samples taken from the flock, of the results of tests on such samples and of the movement of any poultry onto and off the premises on which the flock is kept (article 8 and Schedule 3). The Order also prohibits a person from keeping a laying flock on any premises unless his name is entered in the Laying Flocks Register in respect of those premises, this register being kept by the appropriate Minister (the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State for Scotland or Wales). For the purposes of this requirement, which comes into force on 2nd April 1990, a “laying flock” means a flock of poultry consisting of not less than 100 birds which are kept for the production of eggs for human consumption (excluding birds which are being reared for that purpose). The registration of a person in the Laying Flocks Register in respect of any premises will remain in force for an unlimited period except that the appropriate Minister is required to revoke such registration if he has been notified by the registered person, within 28 days of any anniversary of the date of such registration, that the number of birds kept by that person on the premises is less than 100 and such person has not informed the appropriate Minister that he anticipates that the number of such birds will increase to 100 or more during the 12 months following the date of that anniversary (article 9 and Schedule 4). A registered person is required to notify the appropriate Minister every 12 weeks of the results of tests on samples reported to him under the Order (article 10 and Schedule 5). Until 1st June 1990 samples taken under the Order are required to be tested at laboratories which have the necessary facilities and personnel for carrying out the tests in accordance with the Order and after that date the samples are required to be tested at laboratories authorised in writing by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for this purpose (article 2(2)).

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 “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