Death while under restriction

Q: Is paragraph 19 of SCHEDULE 4 of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations 2006 a strict liability offence?

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 an owner meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

paragraph 19 of SCHEDULE 4 of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations 2006

Revoked
Strict liability
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlife

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

19 If any animal aged
18 months or over dies or is killed while it is under restriction for any reason under this Schedule or Annex VII to the Community TSE Regulation, the owner must immediately notify the Secretary of State, and retain the body on the premises until he is directed in writing to move or dispose of it by the Secretary of State, and it is an offence not to comply with this paragraph or to fail to comply with
a direction under it.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: an owner
Conduct: failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 an owner 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 paragraph 19 of SCHEDULE 4?

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.

Being served with a notice under the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations 2006 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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.

Animal cruelty: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017
Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: Revoked
Revoked by: The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (No. 2) Regulations 2006 (revoked)
Revoked on: 3 May 2006
Made: 17 January 2006
In force from: 1 March 2006
Extent: Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

These Regulations, which apply in England, revoke and remake with amendments the TSE (England) Regulations 2002, which enforced Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ No L 147, 31.5.2001, p 1) as amended by and as read with the provisions in Schedule 1 (“the Community TSE Regulation”). The Regulations provide that the Secretary of State is the competent authority for the purposes of the Community TSE Regulation (except in Schedule 6, where the competent authority is the Food Standards Agency) (regulation 3) and provide an exception for research (regulation 4). The provisions in Part 2 introduce the Schedules. Part 3 deals with administration and enforcement. Regulations 10 to 14 deal with approvals, authorisations, licences and registrations, occupier’s duties, suspension, amendment and revocations of approvals, etc., and an appeals procedure. Regulation 15 deals with valuations. Regulations 16 to 18 give powers to the Secretary of State and the local authority to appoint inspectors, and deal with powers of entry and powers of inspectors. Regulation 19 provides for a notice procedure, and regulation 20 provides for licences permitting movement during a movement restriction. Regulations 21 to 23 deal with obstruction of an inspector, penalties, and offences by a body corporate. A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable— c on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term of three months or both, or d on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both. Schedule 1 lists provisions that amend Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 and with which it must be read. Schedule 2 deals with monitoring for TSEs. Paragraph 1 provides for notification to the Secretary of State of fallen stock that must be tested for TSE under the Community TSE Regulation. Paragraph 2 makes it an offence to consign an over-age animal to a slaughterhouse for human consumption, and to slaughter such an animal for human consumption. Paragraph 3 provides for brain stem sampling of specified bovine animals. Paragraph 4 creates a requirement for anyone slaughtering animals over 30 months old for human consumption to have a Required Method of Operation. Paragraph 5 provides for retention of products and their disposal, and paragraph 6 deals with compensation. Paragraphs 7 to 14 specify the minimum requirements that must appear in a Required Method of Operation. Schedule 3 deals with control and eradication of TSEs in bovine animals. Paragraph 1 provides for notification of a suspect animal to the Secretary of State. Paragraphs 2 and 3 provide for the restriction and slaughter of the suspect. Paragraphs 4 and 5 deal with the offspring and cohorts of the suspect. Paragraph 6 deals with compensation for an animal that dies under restriction, and paragraph 7 deals with placing on the market. Paragraphs 8 to 10 deal with compensation. Schedule 4 deals with control and eradication of TSEs in sheep and goats. Paragraph 1 provides for notification of a suspect animal to the Secretary of State. Paragraphs 2 and 3 provide for the restriction and slaughter of the suspect. Paragraphs 4 and 5 deal with movement restrictions. Paragraphs 6 to 8 provide for action following confirmation. Paragraph 9 provides for time for appeals, and paragraph 10 provides for killing and destruction. Paragraphs 11 to 13 deal with infected animals from another holding, common grazing and multiple flocks on a holding. Paragraph 14 deals with subsequent occupiers of the land. Paragraphs 15 to 21 set out the procedure to be followed after the killing or destruction. Paragraph 15 restricts the introduction of animals on to a holding. Paragraph 16 regulates the use of ovine germinal products, and paragraph 17 restricts the movement of animals from a holding. Paragraph 18 specifies when the time relating to restrictions begins. Paragraph 19 provides for notification of animals that die while under restriction. Paragraph 20 deals with placing on the market of progeny, and paragraph 21 requires notification to the Secretary of State before the owner may consign sheep aged over 18 months for slaughter. Paragraph 22 deals with derogations from the requirement for the killing and destruction of sheep and goats. Paragraphs 23 to 25 deal with compensation. Schedule 5 deals with feedingstuffs. Paragraphs 1 to 3 prohibit feeding specified feedingstuffs to ruminant and non-ruminant animals, and provide for exceptions. Paragraphs 4 and 5 provide for movement restrictions and slaughter of animals suspected of having been fed prohibited feedingstuffs, and paragraph 6 provides for compensation. Paragraph 7 prohibits the slaughter for human consumption of restricted animals. Paragraphs 8 and 9 regulate the production and use of fishmeal for feeding to non-ruminant animals. Paragraphs 10 and 11 regulate feedingstuffs containing dicalcium phosphate or tricalcium phosphate. Paragraphs 12 and 13 regulate feedingstuffs containing blood products and blood meal. Paragraph 14 makes provision for changes in use of equipment. Paragraphs 15 and 16 control the manufacture, storage and transport of processed animal protein and products containing it. Paragraph 17 controls exports, and paragraph 18 regulates fertilisers derived from animal protein. Paragraph 19 deals with records, and paragraph 20 deals with cross-contamination. Schedule 6 deals with specified risk material, mechanically recovered meat and slaughtering techniques. Paragraph 1 appoints the Food Standards Agency as the competent authority for this Schedule. Paragraph 2 makes provision for training of slaughterhouse staff. Paragraph 3 deals with mechanically recovered meat, paragraph 4 with pithing and paragraph 5 with tongue harvesting. Paragraph 6 controls the removal of specified risk material, and paragraphs 7 and 8 deal with bovine animals and sheep and goats at a slaughterhouse. Paragraph 9 deals with young lamb and goat stamps. Paragraph 10 deals with the removal of spinal cord from sheep and goats. Paragraph 11 provides for the authorisation of cutting plants, and paragraph 12 controls the removal of specified risk material at a cutting plant. Paragraph 13 deals with meat from other member States and paragraph 14 prohibits the export of specified risk material. Paragraphs 15 and 16 require the staining of specified risk material, and paragraph 17 provides for the security of specified risk material. Paragraph 18 prohibits the supply of specified risk material for human consumption. A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the BSE and Animal By-Products Division, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Area 301, 1a Page Street, London SW1P 4PQ.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations 2006 Lords · 7 March 2006

Other offences in the same instrument

For the purposes of monitoring under Article 6 of the Community TSE Regulation, a person who has in his…paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 2
Prohibition on feeding animal protein to ruminantsparagraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 5
Prohibition on feeding animal protein to ruminantsparagraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE 5
Control and eradication of TSE - notificationparagraph 1(4) of SCHEDULE 3
Removal of spinal cord from sheep and goatsparagraph 10 of SCHEDULE 6
Killing and destruction following confirmationparagraph 10(3) of SCHEDULE 4
Failure to comply with paragraph 10 is an offenceparagraph 11(1) of SCHEDULE 5
It is an offence for a home compounder registered under paragraph 10(1)(b) to— a keep ruminants; b consign…paragraph 11(2) of SCHEDULE 5
It is an offence for any person producing feedingstuffs in accordance with point C(a)(ii) of Part II of…paragraph 11(3) of SCHEDULE 5
Removal of specified risk material at a cutting plantparagraph 12 of SCHEDULE 6
Meat from another member Stateparagraph 13 of SCHEDULE 6
Failure to comply with paragraph 12 is an offenceparagraph 13(1) of SCHEDULE 5

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations 2006 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlifeOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2006