UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 12 of The Fresh Meat (Import Conditions) Regulations 1996

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

12 A person contravening any provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

a on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months or both; and

b on conviction on indictment, to

a fine or imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 12?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Fresh Meat (Import Conditions) Regulations 1996.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
11 December 1996
In force from
1 January 1997
Extent
E+W+S

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, which extend to Great Britain, implement Council Directives 72/461/EEC and 72/462/EEC, as amended. The Regulations also implement Commission Directive 94/59/EC which amends the Annexes to Council Directive 77/96/EEC on the examination for Trichinae upon importation from third countries of fresh meat derived from domestic swine. The Regulations apply to fresh meat for human consumption obtained from bovine animals, swine, sheep, goats and solipeds (horses etc.) (regulation 2). Exempt from the Regulations are: fresh meat for the crew and passengers on board international transport (regulation 3), personal imports (regulation 4) and fresh meat imported under authorisation, or for international organisations or visiting forces (regulation 5). Provision is made for the transhipment through, and storage in, Great Britain of fresh meat consigned from a third country to an EEA State other than the United Kingdom (regulation 6). The Regulations prohibit the importation of fresh meat into Great Britain except in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations (regulations 7, 8 and 9) and provide for the importation and treatment of samples and their packaging (regulation 10). The Regulations set out certain requirements for certificates and documents needed for the purposes of the Regulations (regulation 11) and make provision regarding offences and penalties (regulation 12). The Regulations provide that the Importation of Animal Products and Poultry Products Order 1980 and the Imported Food Regulations 1984 shall not apply to fresh meat (regulation 13) and specify which provisions of the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996 apply for enforcement purposes (regulation 14). As the Regulations impose no new obligations on the fresh meat industry it has not been necessary to prepare a Compliance Cost Assessment.

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 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