UK Offence Report

5 It shall be an offence against the Animal Health Act 1981 for an owner or any person running a staging…

article 5 of The Welfare of Animals (Staging Points) Order 1998

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

5 It shall be an offence against the Animal Health Act 1981 for an owner or any person running a staging point, or, in the case of paragraph (g) below, any person– a to operate a staging point in contravention of Article 1.2 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (requiring staging points to comply with the Community criteria for staging points); b to use a staging point, other than a staging point approved under Article 4.2 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97, in contravention of Article 4.1 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (providing for the exclusive use of staging points for the accommodation of animals passing through them); c to use a staging point approved under Article 4.2 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (relating to the approval of assembly centres as staging points) in contravention of paragraphs (a) to (c) of that Article; d to contravene Article 4.3 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (relating to the health status of animals present at staging points); e to contravene Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (relating to the operation of staging points); f to permit the removal of any animal in contravention of Article 6.1 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (requiring an official veterinarian or veterinarian designated by the competent authority to confirm on the route plan that the animal is fit to travel); g to contravene or fail to comply with a notice served on him by a veterinary inspector under article 4(1) of this Order; or h to cause or permit any of the above.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
Conduct
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 an owner 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 article 5?

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 Welfare of Animals (Staging Points) Order 1998 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
Status not determined
Made
13 October 1998
In force from
6 November 1998
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision for the administration, execution and enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (“the Council Regulation”) concerning Community criteria for staging points and amending the route plan referred to in the Annex to Directive 91/628/EEC (OJ No. L174, 2.7.97, p. 1). The principal provisions of the Order– a designate the appropriate Minister (as defined in section 86(1)(b) of the Animal Health Act 1981) to be the competent authority for the purpose of approving staging points, and withdrawing, suspending and restoring such approvals, as necessary, in accordance with Articles 3.1, 3.3, 3.4 and 4.2 of the Council Regulation (article 3); b confer a power on a veterinary inspector enabling him to serve a notice to protect the welfare of animals that are resting at a staging point in respect of which a notice has been served suspending or withdrawing its approval (article 4); c create offences (articles 5 and 6); d provide for the enforcement of the Order (article 7); and e amend Part I of Schedule 7 to the Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1480) by inserting a paragraph requiring that, unless the 24 hour rest referred to in paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the 1997 Order is taken at the place of destination, it must be taken at a staging point approved under Council Regulation (EC) No. 1255/97 (article 8). A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Animal Welfare 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

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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