UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 8(1) of The BSE Offspring Slaughter Regulations 1998 (revoked)

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

a fails to comply with any notice served under regulation 3(1), or any requirement of such

a notice, or any notice served under regulation 4(2), or knowingly causes or permits any such non-compliance;

b contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 3(3) or 7(1) or knowingly causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance; or

c defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any bovine animal or carcase under regulation 6(4)(c), shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (intentionally, 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

1 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him– a fails to comply with any notice served under regulation 3(1), or any requirement of such a notice, or any notice served under regulation 4(2), or knowingly causes or permits any such non-compliance; b contravenes or fails t

What would breach regulation 8(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. Being served with a notice under the BSE Offspring Slaughter Regulations 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
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
8 December 1998
In force from
4 January 1999
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 make provision for the slaughter of offspring of bovine animals born after 1st August 1996 to dams in which BSE has been confirmed. This slaughter programme is prescribed in Annex III to Council Decision 98/256/EC (OJ No. L 113, 15.4.98, p. 32), as amended by Commission Decision 98/564/EC (OJ No. L 273, 9.10.98, p. 37) and Commission Decision 98/692/EC of 25.11.98 (OJ No. L 328, 4.12.98, p. 28), as a requirement for the despatch from the United Kingdom of the fresh meat and products referred to in article 6(1) of that Decision under the date based export scheme. Regulation 3 makes provision for the imposition of requirements on offspring animals by service of a notice in Form OC 1. Regulation 4 provides for the slaughter of offspring animals and regulation 5 and Schedule 2 make provision for the payment of compensation. Regulation 6 provides powers of entry, examination and search, regulation 7 provides offences of obstruction and regulation 8 makes provision for offences and penalties. Regulation 9 provides for offences by bodies corporate. Regulation 10 makes provision for enforcement of the Regulations. Schedule 1 prescribes Forms. A Regulatory Impact Assessment for these Regulations has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Animal Health (BSE) 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

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”
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