UK Offence Report

Offences by bodies corporate

regulation 14(1)(b) of The Diseases of Fish (Control) Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

b any person who was purporting to act in such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 14(1)(b)?

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 was purporting to act in such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Diseases of Fish (Control) Regulations 1994.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1994-07-01); 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.

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 Aquatic Animal Health (England and Wales) Regulations 2009
Made
26 May 1994
In force from
1 July 1994
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 which apply to Great Britain, implement Council Directive 93/53 EEC (OJ No. L 175, 19.7.93, p. 23) (“the Directive”) introducing minimum Community measures for the control of certain fish diseases. The Regulations— a require that an official census be kept of the fish populations on farms which are suspected of being infected (regulation 3); b set out the control measures to be taken when the presence of a disease in Part I of Schedule 3 is suspected (regulation 4); c set out the control measures to be taken when the presence of a disease in Part I of Schedule 3 is confirmed (regulation 5); d set out the control measures to be taken when the presence of a disease listed in Part II of Schedule 3 is suspected in an approved zone or on an approved farm in a non-approved zone (regulation 6); e set out the control measures to be taken when the presence of a disease listed in Part II of Schedule 3 is confirmed in an approved zone or on an approved farm in a non-approved zone (regulation 7); f set out the control measures to be taken when a disease listed in Part II of Schedule 3 is suspected in a non-approved farm in a non-approved zone (regulation 8); g set out the control measures to be taken when a disease listed in Schedule 3 is discovered amongst fish in the wild (regulation 9); h prohibit the vaccination of fish against diseases (regulation 10); i provide powers for the enforcement of these Regulations including powers of entry (regulations 11 to 14); j provide that contravention of, or failure to comply with a provision of the Regulations shall be an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (regulation 15); k provide for the amendment of the Registration of Fish Farming and Shellfish Farming Businesses Order 1985 in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 5 (regulation 16). A compliance cost assessment has been prepared in relation to these Regulations and deposited in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from: Salmon, Whaling and Inland Fisheries Division Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Room 607, Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR.

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