UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Animal Gatherings (England) Order 2003

the instrument as a whole of The Animal Gatherings (England) Order 2003 (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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Animal Gatherings (England) Order 2003.

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
9 July 2003
In force from
1 August 2003
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 Animal Gatherings (Interim Measures) (England) Order 2003. It changes that Order as follows— it extends the definition of “animal gatherings” to include animals brought together for inspections to ensure they possess specific breed characteristics (article 2); it makes provision for premises in a sole occupancy group (article 3); it imposes a 48 hour time limit on the duration of animal gatherings for the purpose of sales and onward consignment within Great Britain for slaughter, further rearing or finishing. A veterinary inspector may extend the time limit of an animal sale if this is necessary for animal welfare reasons or if the risk of introduction of disease into the sale or subsequent dissemination is low (article 7); it extends paragraph 4 of the Schedule to include excreta from animals that have been unloaded from the vehicle at the licensed premises. It also provides that vehicles or equipment contaminated with animal excreta may enter licensed premises for the sole purpose of cleansing and disinfecting the vehicle. As before, it requires a licence for animal gatherings (article 4). It specifies that an animal gathering can only take place 27 days after the last animal left those premises and equipment on the premises has been cleaned of visible contamination (article 5). If the gathering takes place in paved premises article 6 makes provision for the cleansing and disinfection of those premises and enables a gathering to take place inside the normal time limits. It imposes duties on persons attending an animal gathering (article 8 and the Schedule). It imposes restrictions following an animal gathering (article 9). It revokes the Markets, Sales and Lairs Order 1925 (S.I. 1925/1349) and amending instruments (article 11). It is enforced by the local authority (article 10). Breach of the Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act, punishable in accordance with section 75 of that Act. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from Renate Lowres, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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