UK Offence Report

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces,…

article 19 of The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1996

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him—

a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any bovine animal or carcase under article 6(2)(c);

b contravenes or fails to comply with article 5(1), (2) or (3), 6(3), 11(1), 12(1), 13(1), (2), (3) or (4), 14(1) or (2), 16(1), (2), (3), (4) or (5) or 18;

c fails to comply with any notice served under article 6(4), 7(1), 8(1), 14(5) or 15(1) or (2);

d fails to comply with any condition of

a licence issued under article 6(5)(b), 7(1), 11(2)(b), 12(2) or 13(5); or

e knowingly causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance, commits an offence against the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any bovine animal or carcase under article 6(2)(c); b contravenes or fails to comply with article 5(1), (2) or (3), 6(3), 11(1), 12(1), 13(1), (2), (3) or (4), 14(1) or (2

What would breach article 19?

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. Being served with a notice under the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1996 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 1996
Revoked on
24 January 1997
Made
31 July 1996
In force from
1 August 1996
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order revokes and re-makes with amendments the Bovine Spongiform Encephalo pathy Order 1991, as amended. The Order continues to provide for— a the compulsory notification of BSE in bovine animals (article 5); b the investigation, examination, testing and sampling and marking of bovine animals and their carcases for this purpose (article 6(1) and (2)); c the imposition of requirements in respect of affected or suspected animals or carcases by service of a notice in Form A (article 6); d the prohibition on movement of other bovine animals by notice in writing (article 7); e the cleansing and disinfection of premises and equipment (article 8); f the application of section 32 of the Animal Health Act 1981 (slaughter of animals) (article 9); g the seizure of carcases for the purpose of preventing the spread of the disease and the provision of compensation (article 10); h the prohibition of the sale, supply and use of milk from affected or suspected animals (article 11); i the prohibition (subject to certain exemptions) of the sale, supply and use of feeding stuffs containing mammalian protein or mammalian meat and bone meal (articles 12 and 13); j sampling of protein or feeding stuffs (article 17), production of licences (article 18), offences (article 19) and enforcement (article 20); and k exemptions to certain prohibitions for research purposes (articles 11(2)(b), 12(2) and 13(5)). The Order introduces new provisions which— l prohibit the possession of mammalian meat and bone meal or any product containing mammalian meat and bone meal on any premises where livestock feeding stuffs are produced or stored, or where livestock is kept, subject to an exception for possession for research purposes and to various defences (article 13); m provide for the cleansing and disinfection of places, vehicles and equipment where mammalian meat and bonemeal and MBM products have been produced, stored or used (article 14); n provide for the disposal of mammalian meat and bonemeal and MBM products by persons for whom possession of such products is illegal, and provide for the recall of any feeding stuff for livestock found to have been illegally sold (article 15); and o require persons consigning, transporting and using mammalian meat and bone meal to keep records (article 16). A Compliance Cost Assessment for this Order has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Bovine Products Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2JA.

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 “commits 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