UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 9(1) of The Slaughter of Poultry (Licences and Specified Qualifications) Regulations 1991

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

1 A person who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 4(1) or 4(2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

n shall not be guilty of an offence under these Regulations if he proves that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing such an offence. 4 A person shall not be guilty of an offence under these Regulations if he proves that by reason of an accident or other emergency the contravention or non-

What would breach regulation 9(1)?

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 contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 4(1) or 4(2).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Slaughter of Poultry (Licences and Specified Qualifications) Regulations 1991, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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
£400
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 3 value when the instrument came into force (1991-09-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean £1000.

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 July 1991
In force from
1 September 1991
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 to the slaughter of poultry, provide for the licensing of poultry slaughtermen and specify qualifications which must be held by persons supervising the premises used in connection with the slaughter of poultry. In particular, the Regulations prohibit the slaughter, or stunning of a bird (as defined in regulation 2(1)) before slaughter, except in pursuance of a licence or a provisional licence granted by the local authority (regulation 4(1)); set out the requirements that must be satisfied before the local authority shall grant a licence (regulation 5); enable the local authority to issue a provisional licence which shall authorise a person to slaughter or stun a bird only if he acts under supervision (regulation 6); enable the local authority to modify, suspend or revoke licences or provisional licences and to charge reasonable fees (regulations 7 and 8); require the local authority to allow the applicant to make representations before it decides to refuse to grant or renew a licence or a provisional licence, or to modify, suspend or revoke a licence or a provisional licence (regulation 7(4)); create offences punishable by a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (currently £500) (regulation 9); and specify the qualifications to be held by supervisors (regulation 10). The Regulations come into force on 1st September 1991 except for regulation 9 which comes into force on 1st September 1992.

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