UK Offence Report

Precautions against spread of disease

regulation 10(3) of The Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Regulations 1990

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

3 A person who–

a has recently been in contact with

a person who is suffering from any infectious disease or

b resides in

a house where any infectious disease exists, and milks cows, handles milk containers or in any way takes part or assists in the conduct of the business of

a dairy, is guilty of an offence, unless authorised by

a certificate from

a duly qualified medical practitioner in accordance with paragraph (1) above.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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.

What would breach regulation 10(3)?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Regulations 1990.

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
7 December 1990
In force from
1 January 1991
Extent
S

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) replace with amendments, provisions previously contained in the Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Act 1914 and the Milk and Dairies (Amendment) Act 1922. They revoke and replace with amendments the Milk and Dairies (Scotland) Order 1934 and the Bulk Transport of Milk (Scotland) Order 1976. They introduce a new system of licensing (regulation 3), instead of the previous system of registration. A dairyman will now be required to have his business licensed by the food authority, a food authority being an islands or district council. These Regulations do not apply to shops selling pre-packed milk and consequently regulation 2(1) contains a new definition of “dairy” which excludes shops. In particular these Regulations prescribe:– licences for persons proposing to carry on the business of a dairy (regulation 3); inspections of dairies at least once every two years by food authorities (regulation 4); structural conditions which dairies must comply with and provisions for the adequate and sufficient supply of wholesome water (regulations 5 and 6); provisions to prevent milk being exposed to the risk of contamination during milking and afterwards (regulations 7 and 8); a duty on dairymen not to sell contaminated milk and to notify infectious disease in any of their cows (regulation 9); a duty on persons to notify the dairyman of infectious disease and provisions for medical certificates (regulation 10); hygiene requirements for persons handling and distributing milk (regulation 11); filtering and cooling of milk and the temperature at which milk is cooled and main tained after filtering, and storage of milk (regulations 12, 13 and 14); provisions to prevent milk being exposed to the risk of contamination including requirements as to containers, plant, tankers and equipment (regulations 15 and 16); conditions under which milk is conveyed (regulation 17); a duty on dairymen and milk carriers to take steps to make the provisions of the Regulations known to their employees (regulation 18); penalties for offences committed under regulations 3(7), 9(1) or (2) and 10(1) or (3) (regulation 19); provide for the application of provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 and for appeals against the revocation of or refusal to grant a licence (regulations 20 and 21 and Schedule 2). These Regulations come into force on 1st January 1991, except for regulation 3(1) and (7) to allow opportunity to change to the new licensing system.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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