UK Offence Report

20 It shall be an offence for any person or organisation to fail to comply with the provisions of these…

regulation 20 of The Horse Passports (England) Regulations 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

20 It shall be an offence for any person or organisation to fail to comply with the provisions of these Regulations.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
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 20?

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. On these words it is an offence to fail to comply with the provisions of these Regulations.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Horse Passports (England) Regulations 2003, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
4 November 2003
In force from
30 November 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which apply in England, implement Council Directives 90/426/EEC (OJ No. L224, 18/09/990, p. 42), 90/427/EEC (OJ No. L224, 18/08/1990, p. 55) and Commission Decisions 92/353/EEC (OJ No. L192,11/07/1992, p. 63), 93/623/EEC (OJ No. L298, 3/12/93, 220 jyp. 45) and 2000/68/EC (OJ No. L23, p. 72). They revoke and replace the Horse Passports Order 1997 and the Horse Passports (Amendment) Order 1998. The Regulations a provide for the issue of passports for horses registered before 30th November 2003 (Regulation 4), horses not registered before that date (Regulation 5), horses entering England (Regulation 6) and certain horses whose owners have grazing rights (Regulation 7); b provide for when passports must be obtained for young horses (Regulation 8); c require declarations to be made as to whether horses are intended for human consumption (Regulation 9); d require a passport to accompany the horse to which it relates when the move is significant (Regulation 10); e impose obligations on veterinary surgeons as to the entries to be made in passports and the administration of drugs (Regulation 11); f provide for horses to be issued with life numbers (Regulation 12); g provide for the languages in which passports are to be expressed (Regulation 13); h prohibit various activities in connection with passports; i provide the rules associated with the sale or death of a horse (Regulation 15); j provide for the replacement of lost or damaged passports (Regulation 16); k provide with the rules which apply when applications are made outside time limits (Regulation 17 ); l provide for the powers and duties of recognised organisations (Regulation 18) and for the withdrawal of recognition (Regulation 19); m create offences (Regulation 20); n give powers of entry to inspectors (Regulation 21); o create offences associated with obstruction (Regulation 22); p provide for penalties (Regulation 23); q provide for enforcement (Regulation 24). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from Nazia Naqui, Zone 211, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 1A Page Street, London SW1 4PQ.

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 0.90.

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