UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 21(1) of The Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995

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 If any person contravenes—

a regulation 10(1); or

b regulation 12(1), he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 21(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 8911 — 08911 - Triable either way offences under Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
28 February 1995
In force from
1 April 1995
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 revoke and replace the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992. The Regulations give effect to Council Directive 91/497/EEC (OJ No. L268, 24.9.91, p.69), which amends and updates Directive 64/433/EEC on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat to extend it to the production and marketing of fresh meat, and in part to Council Directive 91/495/EEC (OJ No. L268, 24.9.91, p.41) concerning public health and animal health problems affecting the production and the placing on the market of farmed game meat and Council Directive 92/45/EEC (OJ No. L268, 16.6.92, p.35) on public health and animal health problems relating to the killing of wild game and the placing on the market of wild game meat. The Regulations transfer responsibility for their execution and enforcement from local authorities to the Minister. The regulations do not apply to premises where fresh meat is used exclusively for the production of meat products, meat preparations, minced meat and mechanically recovered meat or to premises where fresh meat is cut up or stored for sale to the final consumer from those premises, to premises used for carcase competitions or to cold stores (subject to specified restrictions); fresh meat intended for exhibitions, special studies or analysis, or for sale to international organisations; and fresh meat not intended for human consumption (regulation 3). Slaughterhouses, cutting premises, cold stores, farmed game handling facilities and farmed game processing facilities must have a current licence issued by the Minister. Such a licence will be issued only if the premises comply with the prescribed requirements as to structure and hygiene (regulation 4). There are different structural requirements for low throughput slaughterhouses, cutting premises and farmed game processing facilities (regulation 4(2), Schedule 5 and Part III of Schedule 6). The slaughter of farmed game at a farmed game handling facility is permitted subject to certain conditions (regulation 4(2) and Part I of Schedule 6). A licence may be refused (regulation 4) or revoked (regulation 5), with a right of appeal to a Meat Hygiene Appeals Tribunal (regulation 6). The procedural rules in respect of an appeal are prescribed in the Meat Hygiene Appeals Tribunal (Procedure) Regulations 1992. Slaughterhouses and farmed game handling facilities may not be used for the slaughter of animals not intended for human consumption except in specified circumstances (regulation 7(4)). There will be veterinary supervision of all licensed premises. The Minister will appoint designated official veterinary surgeons and inspectors to supervise licensed premises (regulation 8). The Minister may revoke or suspend the designation of an official veterinary surgeon who is deemed to be unfit to perform his duties (regulation 9). Official veterinary surgeons and veterinary officers of the Minister may prohibit the use of equipment or the use of part of the premises or reduce the rate of operations and a person aggrieved by such a decision may appeal (regulation 10). The requirement to apply the health mark continues to apply to fresh meat produced in all licensed premises. The Minister is now required to provide the health marking equipment and to arrange for the mark to be applied to fresh meat which has been passed as fit for human consumption (regulation 11(2)). Times of operation of licensed premises are controlled (regulation 12). Fresh meat may not be sold or offered for sale for human consumption unless it has been obtained from licensed premises, has met the hygiene requirements specified in the Schedules and is accompanied by a commercial document or health certificate (regulation 14). The requirement for a health certificate to accompany fresh meat intended for export to another member State is replaced by the requirement to have a commercial document which shall accompany all fresh meat produced in a licensed premises (regulation 14). An official veterinary surgeon or an inspector can in certain circumstances prohibit the slaughter or the dressing of an animal in a slaughterhouse (regulation 15), and an official veterinary surgeon may permit an animal to be kept in a lairage in exceptional circumstances for more than 72 hours (regulation 16). Conditions are laid down regarding the documentation to accompany a diseased or injured animal to a slaughterhouse (regulation 17); similarly, specified conditions must be complied with before a dead or slaughtered animal is brought into a slaughterhouse or farmed game processing facility (regulation 18). The Minister must keep records in respect of inspections (regulation 19), and the occupier of licensed premises must also keep specified records (regulation 20). A Compliance Cost Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and copies can be obtained from the Meat Hygiene Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Government Buildings, Hook Rise South, Tolworth, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 7NF.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
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