UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Foot-and-Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006

the instrument as a whole of The Foot-and-Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
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. Moving the goods across the border under the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006 without the licence the instrument requires.
  2. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  3. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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
30 January 2006
In force from
23 February 2006
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, read with the Animal Health Act 1981 (c. 22, amended by the Animal Health Act 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/3293), the Animal Health Act 2002, c. 42, and the Animal Health Act 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/3475)) (“the Act”), partially transposes for England Council Directive 2003/85/EC on Community measures for the control of foot-and-mouth disease repealing Directive 85/511/EEC and Decisions 89/531/EEC and 91/665/EEC and amending Directive 92/46/EEC (OJ No. L306, 22.11.2003, p1). The other measures transposing the Directive in England are the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Control of Vaccination) (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/183) and the Animal Health Act 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 2005. The Order transposes the Directive except insofar as it deals with vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease (“the disease”). It revokes the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/1950) insofar as it applies in England. It also revokes the amendments to that Order. Schedule 9 lists these instruments. Part 1 of the Order contains introductory and interpretation provisions. Part 2 makes provision for notification, suspicion and investigation of the disease. Articles 9 and 10 provide for notification of the disease or suspicion of it. Schedule 1 contains the restrictions which apply in relation to premises under suspicion. Article 11 relates to animals in transit which are known or suspected of infection or contamination with the disease. Article 12 provides for veterinary investigation into the disease using the criteria in Schedule 2 to confirm the existence or absence of disease. Consequent on that investigation, article 13 allows parts of premises to be declared as separate production units, which has the effect of excusing those parts from some of the restrictions in Schedule 1. Also consequent on the investigation, article 14 requires the Secretary of State to trace the possible spread of disease and to impose the restrictions in Schedule 1 on further premises. The restrictions in Schedule 1 are maintained in relation to premises where infection with the disease is found (article 15). Articles 16 to 18 provide for the declaration of a temporary control zone on suspicion of the disease and for the measures applying within that zone. Articles 19 and 20 provide for the declaration of a further zone supplementary to a temporary control zone (a supplementary movement control zone) and the measures applying there. Part 3 sets out the measures applying following confirmation of the disease. Article 21 requires the Secretary of State to trace items from infected premises which may spread disease and provides for their treatment or disposal. The Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to slaughter animals on infected premises, with exceptions, and confers power to slaughter other animals to prevent the spread of the disease (paragraphs 2A and 3 of Schedule 3 to the Act). Articles 22 to 30 provide for the circumstances relating to such slaughter, including the place of slaughter (article 24), movement and disposal of carcases and faecal material (respectively articles 25 and 26), isolation of things which may spread the disease until they have been certified as free of contamination, treated or disposed of (article 27), cleansing and disinfection of the premises (articles 28 and 29 and Schedule 3) and restocking of the premises (article 30 and Schedule 4). Articles 31 to 33 provide for the declaration of protection and surveillance zones around infected premises. In particular, article 32 provides for an outbreak in Scotland or Wales close to the border with England. Article 34 and Schedule 5 set out the measures which apply in those zones. Article 35 requires the Secretary of State to investigate every premises keeping susceptible animals in such a zone. Article 36 confers power on an inspector appointed under the Act to prohibit access to land or buildings in a protection zone. Article 37 sets out the circumstances in which protection and surveillance zones may be brought to an end. Article 38 provides for the declaration of a restricted zone on confirmation of the disease; article 39 and Schedule 7 provide for the measures applying there. Article 40 provides for the declaration of a wild animal infected zone on confirmation of the disease in a wild animal; article 41 and Schedule 8 provide for the measures applying there. Part 4 makes general and supplementary provision. Article 42 applies after specified movements and requires licences to be produced before animals are unloaded and that those licences are forwarded to the local authority. Article 43 requires the Secretary of State to take steps to prevent spread of the disease to certain premises (such as premises keeping rare breeds). Article 44 requires the local authority to erect signs indicating the perimeters of zones declared under the Order. Article 45 sets out the method to be used when cleansing and disinfecting vehicles transporting susceptible animals. Article 46 requires occupiers to provide facilities, equipment and materials where cleansing and disinfection of vehicles is required on their premises. Article 47 makes provision to maintain marks applied under the Order. Article 48 provides for the feeding and tending of animals or poultry which cannot be moved on termination of a right of occupation because of a restriction imposed by the Order. Articles 49 to 54 and 56 to 59 make provision related to offences and enforcement. Article 55 confers general powers on veterinary inspectors to take action to prevent spread of the disease. Articles 60 to 62 make consequential amendment to other statutory instruments. Article 63 revokes the statutory instruments in Schedule 9 insofar as they apply in England. Failure to comply with this Order is an offence under section 73 of the Act. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament, together with a Transposition Note setting out how the main elements of Directive 2003/85/EC are transposed in this Order. Copies may be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Exotic Disease Prevention and Control Division, 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