UK Offence Report

Alteration and storage of ear tags

paragraph 10(1) of SCHEDULE 1 of The Cattle Identification 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

1 It is an offence to alter, obliterate or deface an ear tag applied under Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 or previous cattle tagging legislation, or

a temporary mark applied by an inspector in accordance with paragraph 7 (application of temporary marks).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 paragraph 10(1) of SCHEDULE 1?

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 alter, obliterate or deface an ear tag applied under Regulation (EC) No.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Cattle Identification Regulations 2007.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9554 — 09554 - Obstruction etc. under Cattle Identification Regulations 2007. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
19 February 2007
In force from
6 April 2007
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 revoke and remake the provisions of— a the Bovine Animals (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995; b the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998; c the Cattle Database Regulations 1998; d the Cattle (Identification of Older Animals) Regulations 2000. together with the amendments to those instruments. The principal changes are as follows. The Regulations now allow bison to be tagged up to 9 months after birth (paragraph 1(3) of Schedule1). They create an offence of transferring eartags between animals (paragraph 4(5) of Schedule 1 and of re-using an ear tag (paragraph 4(6) of that Schedule). They no longer permit the use of temporary calf passports. They permit electronic registration of cattle (paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 2). They change the £50 fee for replacement passports to a fee reflecting the cost of issue (paragraph 4 of Schedule 3). They simplify the provisions on records (Schedule 5). The Regulations enforce— Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97); Commission Regulation (EC) No. 494/98 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 as regards the application of minimum administrative sanctions in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals; Commission Regulation (EC) No. 911/2004 (implementing Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards ear tags, passports and holding registers);and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 644/2005 (authorising a special identification system for bovine animals kept for cultural and historical purposes on approved premises as provided for in Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council). They provide for notification of a holding to the Secretary of State if cattle are kept there (regulation 3). They make provision for eartags (regulation 4 and Schedule 1), registration of cattle (regulation 5 and Schedule 2), passports (regulation 6 and Schedule 3) and notification of movement and death (regulation 7 and Schedule 4). They provide for records to be kept in the form specified in Schedule 5. They provide for the enforcement of the Regulations (Part 4). They are enforced by the local authority (regulation 16). Breach of the Regulations is an offence, punishable— a on summary conviction, by a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both; b on conviction on indictment, by a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available at www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/cattle-cir/index.htm.

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.

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