UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) Order 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) Order 1992

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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 1992 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
Status not determined
Made
9 January 1992
In force from
30 January 1992
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 revokes the Medicines (Veterinary Drugs) (Pharmacy and Merchants' List) (No. 2) Order 1989, as amended. 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 specified persons subject to certain conditions (article 3). The Order continues to exempt from section 52 the placing on the market of any veterinary drug incorporated in an intermediate feed by specified persons subject to certain conditions (article 6). Pursuant to article 2 of Council Directive 90/167/EEC (laying down the conditions governing the preparation, placing on the market and use of medicated feeding stuffs in the Community, OJ No. L 92, 7.4.90 p.42) a definition of “placing on the market” has been inserted in article 2(1) and the consequential amendments made to articles 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in respect of provisions governing intermediate feed. This amendment is made under the provisions of section 2(2) of the European Community Act 1972. 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 specified persons subject to certain conditions (article 9). Pursuant to article 4 of Council Directive 90/167/EEC the period of time that the record of any sale of veterinary drugs or intermediate feed is required to be kept pursuant to articles 4(3), 7(3) and 10(2) is extended from two to three years. The Order also continues to exempt from section 52 the retail sale or supply of any veterinary drug (horse wormers) by specified persons subject to certain conditions (article 11). 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 13) and in cases involving another person’s default (article 14). The fees for the registration, retention and restoration in the Register of Category 1 agricultural merchants (article 5(7)) and for saddlers (article 12(7)) have been slightly increased; the fees for the registration, retention and restoration in the Register of Category 2 agricultural merchants (article 8(7)) have been slightly decreased. The Codes of Practice referred to in the Order have been updated and are priced publications available from MAFF Publication, London SE 997TP.

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 0.67.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.67 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