UK Offence Report

Effect in England and Wales of disqualification in Scotland under section 28F(1) of the 1981 Act or section…

article 3(2) of The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Provisions) (England and Wales) 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

2 A person who breaches

a disqualification from owning or keeping animals (or both), dealing in animals, or transporting animals under section 28F(1) of the 1981 Act or section 40(1) of the 2006 Act commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 article 3(2)?

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 an offence is committed where a person breaches a disqualification from owning or keeping animals (or both), dealing in animals, or transporting animals under section 28F(1) of the 1981 Act or section 40(1) of the 2006 Act.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Provisions) (England and Wales) Order 2006.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2006-12-15); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
14 December 2006
In force from
15 December 2006
Extent
E+W

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 makes provision consequential on the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”). The 2006 Act amends the Animal Health Act 1981 (“the 1981 Act”) so as to make provision in relation to animal health, and also makes stand alone provision in relation to animal welfare. In particular, sections 10 (which inserts a new section 28F into the 1981 Act) and 40 of the 2006 Act make provision for a court in Scotland to disqualify a person from owning or keeping an animal (or both) and from certain other activities involving animals. Articles 3 to 7 of the Order provide for disqualification orders made in Scotland under those provisions to be enforced in England and Wales. Article 8 provides for the modification of certain enactments in consequence of the 2006 Act. The effect of the modifications is to provide for references to section 40(1) and (2)(a), (b) or (c) (which relate to disqualification from owning or keeping animals (or both), and from dealing in animals and from transporting animals) to be added to the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963, the Riding Establishments Act 1964 and the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits 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