UK Offence Report

Importation from third countries

regulation 5(2) of The Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 This regulation shall be enforced under the procedures relating to third country imports contained in the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1993, and any contravention of this regulation shall be an offence under those Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 5(2)?

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. Moving the goods across the border under the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Wales) Regulations 2001
Revoked on
31 July 2001
Made
27 July 1994
In force from
10 August 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 revoke and replace with amendments: The Welfare of Livestock (Intensive Units) Regulations 1978 (S.I. 1978/1800); The Welfare of Battery Hens Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/2020); The Welfare of Calves Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/2021); The Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1990 (S.I. 1990/1445); and The Welfare of Pigs Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/1477); and amend the Protection of Animals (Anaesthetics) Act 1954. They implement— the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 10th March 1976 as read with the Protocol of Amendment to the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 6th February 1992 (both available from HMSO, PO Box 276, London SW8 5DT); Council Directive 88/166/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens kept in battery cages (OJ No. L74, 19.3.88, p.83); Council Directive 91/629/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves (OJ No. L340, 11.12.91, p.28); Council Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs (OJ No. L340, 11.12.91, p.33). They make specific provision for the welfare of laying hens in battery cages, calves and pigs and general provision for other livestock, but do not apply in respect of bees or fish, including shellfish, crustaceans or molluscs. Existing requirements applying to intensive systems are extended to all systems of animal husbandry in which animals are kept in such numbers or density or in such conditions that their health and welfare depend upon frequent human attention, so as to comply with the Council of Europe Convention on Animals kept for Farming Purposes as amended by the Protocol of Amendment of 6th February 1992. In the case of laying hens in battery cages, the Regulations introduce amendments in relation to cage height requirements and make additional requirements in relation to testing alarms on automatic ventilation systems. Until 1st January 1995, the provisions in Schedule 1 of paragraph 1 (minimum cage requirements) shall not apply in relation to battery cages in use before 1st January 1988, provided the accommodation has not been reconstructed since that date. In the case of calves, they regulate the area to which the calves must have access, although the provisions in Schedule 2 of paragraph 1(1) (minimum floor space for calves in groups) and 2(a) (requirement for individual stalls to have a perforated wall) do not apply until 1st January 2004 for accommodation in use before 1st January 1994. In the case of pigs, they regulate the area to which pigs must have access, although the provisions in Part I, Schedule 3 of paragraph 1 (tethers) and 2 (stall dimensions) do not apply until 1st January 1999 to tethers and stalls in use before 1st October 1991 and the provisions in Part V, Schedule 3 of paragraph 2 (minimum floor area) do not apply until 1st January 1998 for accommodation in use before 1st January 1994. The use of sweat box systems for keeping pigs will be prohibited after 1st July 1995. A Compliance Cost Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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