UK Offence Report

7 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, he— a contravenes, or does not comply…

regulation 7 of The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007

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

7 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, he— a contravenes, or does not comply with a duty in, regulation 4, 5 or 6; b makes an entry in a record, or gives any information for the purposes of these Regulations which he knows to be false in any material particular or, for those purposes, recklessly makes a statement or gives any information which is false in any material particular; or c causes or permits any of the above.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (recklessly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: recklessly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

7 A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or excuse, he— a contravenes, or does not comply with a duty in, regulation 4, 5 or 6; b makes an entry in a record, or gives any information for the purposes of these Regulations which he knows to be false in any material particular or, for those purposes, recklessly

What would breach regulation 7?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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.

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
19 July 2007
In force from
1 October 2007
Extent
E

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 to England only, substantially replace (with amendments): The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2002/1870); The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1646); The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/299); and Section 7 of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968. The above legislation will be repealed at the same time as these Regulations come into force. These Regulations implement Community legislation which had previously been implemented in the three Regulations mentioned above (SI 2000/1870; 2002/1646 and 2003/299). The Community legislation which these Regulations continue to implement is— Council Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes ; Council Directive 99/74/EC laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens ; Council Directive 91/629/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves , as amended by Council Directive 97/2/EC and Commission decision 97/182/EC ; and Council Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs , as amended by Council Directive 2001/88/EC and Council Directive 2001/93/EC . These Regulations (and the Community legislation which they implement) reflect the obligations contained in the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 10th March 1976 (European Treaty series No 98), as read with the Protocol of Amendment to the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 6th February 1992 (European Treaty Series No 145). The Regulations are made under section 12(1), (2) and (3) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and apply to all animals kept for farming purposes, subject to certain limited exceptions set out in regulation 3(2). Regulation 4(1) lays down the general principle that persons responsible for farmed animals must take reasonable steps to ensure that the animals are kept in conditions complying with Schedule 1. This principle applies to all vertebrate animals (other than man) which are bred or kept for the production of food, wool or skin or other farming purposes, but does not include a fish, reptile or amphibian. A “person responsible” for an animal takes its meaning from section 3 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which includes a person responsible for an animal on a permanent or temporary basis, a person who is in charge of an animal, an owner of an animal and a person responsible for a child under the age of 16 years who has actual care and control of an animal. The Regulations provide for the conditions under which all farmed animals must be kept (regulation 4(1) and Schedule 1) and for specific additional conditions applying to the following farmed animals— laying hens in establishments with 350 or more laying hens, kept in— non-cage systems (regulation 5(1) (b) and Schedule 2); conventional (battery) cages (regulation 5(1) (b) and Schedule 3); enriched cages (regulation 5(1) (b) and Schedule 4); all cage and non-cage systems (regulation 5(1) (b) and Schedule 5); laying hens, whether or not in establishments with 350 or more hens (regulation 5(1)(a)); calves (regulation 5(1) (c) and Schedule 6); cattle (regulation 5(1) (d) and Schedule 7); pigs (regulation 5(1) (e) and Schedule 8); and rabbits (regulation 5(1) (f) and Schedule 9). Conventional or battery cage systems cannot be built or used for the first time (paragraph 8 of Schedule 3) and are prohibited on and after 1st January 2012 (paragraph 9 of Schedule 3). Regulation 6 imposes obligations on persons responsible for farmed animals to be acquainted with and have access to codes of practice while attending to animals and ensure that employees have the same knowledge and access. Regulation 7(a) makes it an offence for a person responsible for a farmed animal, without lawful authority or excuse, not to comply with either the general duty to comply with Schedule 1 or any of the additional duties to comply with Schedules 2 to 9, as applicable. It also creates an offence if any of the duties in respect of codes of practice in Regulation 6 are not met. An offence is committed under Regulation 7(b) where a false record is made or false information is given. The maximum penalty for an offence under regulation 7(a) or (b) is 6 months imprisonment and/or a fine at level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500). When section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 comes into force, the maximum imprisonment will increase to 51 weeks. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (On-farm Animal Welfare Team), 5th Floor, 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.

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