Penalties
regulation 30(1) of The Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1992
- Revoked
- Strict liability
- Either way
- Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairs
The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.
What the provision says
1 A person contravening any provision of these Regulations or any notice served under them shall be guilty of an offence.
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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 30(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.
- Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1992.
Penalty
- Mode of trial
- Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
- Maximum fine
- £5,000
- Standard scale
- Level 5
- Maximum prison (summary)
- 3 months
- Maximum prison (on indictment)
- 2 years
this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1993-01-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.
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.
-
Animal cruelty: definitive guideline
Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017
Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.
-
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline
Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
-
Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline
All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
-
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline
All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
-
General guideline: overarching principles
All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
-
Totality: definitive guideline
All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.
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 Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1993
- Revoked on
- 1 January 1994
- Made
- 23 December 1992
- In force from
- 1 January 1993
- 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.
These Regulations implement Council Directive 90/425/EEC concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the single market (OJ No. L224, 18.8.90, p 29) and Council Directive 91/496/EEC laying down the principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on animals entering the community from third countries (OJ No. L268, 24.9.91, p 56). With respect to intra-Community trade, the Regulations make it an offence to export, import or transport for intra-Community trade any animal or animal product to which directive 90/425/EEC applies except in accordance with that directive, and creates a procedure for the registration of dealers in animals and animal products (Regulations 5 to 8). The Regulations give to inspectors the powers of inspection and examination specified in the directive, together with necessary powers of entry (Regulations 9 and 27). They place duties on consignees of animals and animal products, and specify the procedure to be followed in the event of a consignment being illegal (Regulations 10 to 12). With respect to importation of animals from third countries, the Regulations prohibit the import of any animal unless the conditions of Council Directive 91/496/EEC and Council Directive 91/628/EEC are complied with (Regulation 15). They specify the places at which animals may be imported, and the procedure for importation (Regulations 16 and 17), provide for the payment of fees (Regulation 18) and procedures to be followed when the consignments constitutes a danger to health or are otherwise illegal (Regulations 19 and 20) and specify that, at the place of destination, animals for breeding and production may not be released until authorised by an officer or Minister (Regulation 21). They regulate the import of animals originating outside the European Economic Community but in respect of which all necessary checks have been carried out in another member State (Regulations 22 to 24). They give powers to take action in the event of an outbreak of disease in another state (Regulation 25) and make provision for notification of decision, powers of entry, and penalties. They revoke the Exportation of Pigeons Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/872) and the Disease of Animals (Export Health Certificates) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/217). They disapply from intra-Community trade the provisions in Schedule 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
- This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
- The Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1992 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
- Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairsOther offences on the same subject
- Offences created in 1992