UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) (No. 2) Order 2000

the instrument as a whole of The Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) (No. 2) Order 2000

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

73 of the Animal Health Act 1981. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) (No. 2) Order 2000.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
15 June 2000
In force from
6 July 2000
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 revokes and replaces the Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) Order 2000, which at the time this Order was made had not yet come into force. This Order remedies a small error that was identified in that Order but is in all substantive respects identical to it. This Order, which extends to England only, revokes and replaces, with changes, the instruments dealing with the cleansing and disinfection of means of transport relating to animals set out in Schedule 3 to the Order. It implements paragraph 8 of Chapter I of the Annex to Council Directive 91/628/EEC on the protection of animals during transport (OJ No. L340, 11.12.91, p. 17) which was previously implemented by paragraph 26 of Schedule 1 to the Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1480). It also implements Article 12.1(a), second indent of Council Directive 64/432/EEC on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine (this Directive was consolidated in the Annex to Council Directive 97/12/EC, OJ No. L109, 25.4.97, p. 1.) This Order specifies that, after the transport of any hoofed animals, and domestic fowl, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea-fowls, quails, pigeons, pheasants, partridges and ratites, the means of transport and associated equipment must be cleansed and disinfected in accordance with Schedule 1 before it is used again to transport those animals (article 3(2) and (4)). It also specifies that, even if this has been done, the means of transport must be cleansed and disinfected again before those animals are transported if the means of transport has become soiled so as to cause a risk of transmission of disease (article 3(3)). Following a journey, it requires a means of transport to be cleansed and disinfected as soon as reasonably practicable, but in any event within not more than 24 hours (article 3(5)). It requires any person transporting such animals to remove dead animals, litter and excreta from the means of transport as soon as possible (article 3(6)). There are exceptions set out in Schedule 2 relating to journeys on a single enterprise, transport of certain horses and journeys between the same two points. In these cases, and for all other animals and birds, there is a requirement to ensure that they are loaded on to a means of transport which has been cleansed and, if necessary, disinfected, and that dead animals, litter and excreta are removed from the means of transport as soon as possible. This does not apply to non-commercial journeys or to the transport of single animals or pets (article 4). Article 5 specifies how the material from the means of transport must be disposed of. Under article 6, an inspector is empowered, in the circumstances set out in that article, to serve a notice requiring a means of transport to be cleansed and disinfected. The Order is enforced by the local authority (article 7). It revokes the provisions set out in Schedule 3. Breach of the Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981 punishable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000). A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Animal Health (Bovine TB and Zoonoses) Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1A Page Street, London SW1P 4PQ.

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 0.52.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.52 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