UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 25 of The Bluetongue Regulations 2008

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

25 A person contravening any requirement or prohibition in or under these Regulations is guilty of an offence and liableon summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 25?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Bluetongue Regulations 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2008-04-26); 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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Animals (Divisional Veterinary Managers) Regulations 2009
Revoked on
1 November 2009
Made
2 April 2008
In force from
26 April 2008
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement Council Directive 2000/75/EC laying down specific provisions for the control and eradication of bluetongue and enforce Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1266/2007. They revoke and remake with changes the Bluetongue (No. 2) Order 2007. The changes are that— a the Secretary of State may, within a restricted zone, declare any area around an infected premises to be a protection zone, and any area beyond such protection zone to be a surveillance zone (regulation 13(1)(b)). b a person is prohibited from moving an animal in a restricted zone if the animal shows clinical signs of bluetongue on the day of transport (regulation 13(5)). c the operator of a slaughterhouse in a surveillance zone must obtain a licence if that operator proposes to slaughter animals from a protection zone (regulation 14(3)). d if bluetongue is confirmed outside England, the Secretary of State may declare a protection zone and a surveillance zone in England (regulation 16). e unless in an excepted category, a person requires a licence to obtain bluetongue vaccine (regulation 17). Vaccination can only take place if authorised by the Secretary of State (regulation 18) or where vaccination is required either in a vaccination zone or by notice served on particular premises (regulation 19). f power is given to the Secretary of State to allow a person to take or avoid taking an action otherwise than in accordance with the other provisions of these Regulations for the purpose only of ensuring the health and welfare of any animal (regulation 28). Part 1 of the Regulations makes provision for exemptions from the requirements of the Regulations, for licences and for the declaration of zones (regulations 3 to 7). Part 2 of the Regulations provides for the reporting of symptoms of bluetongue (regulation 8), the establishment of restrictions on premises (regulation 9), the establishment of temporary control zones (regulation 10), confirmation of bluetongue on premises (regulation 11), and the establishment of zones and controls on movements of animals within and out of those zones (regulations 12 and 13). Power is given to the Secretary of State to license or designate certain slaughterhouses (regulation 14). Movement without a licence of animals from the restricted zone where a notice has been served on the occupier of the premises of destination is prohibited (regulation 15). This Part also provides for the Secretary of State to declare zones in England when bluetongue is confirmed outside England. Part 3 makes provision for vaccination (regulations 17 to 19). Part 4 makes provision for enforcement and sets out the offences of obstruction and interference with traps and marks (regulations 20 to 24 and regulation 26). Failure to comply with any requirement or to observe any prohibition in or under these Regulations is an offence (regulation 25). The Regulations are enforced by the local authority, unless the Secretary of State directs otherwise (regulation 27). Part 5 gives power to the Secretary of State to permit anything that would otherwise be prohibited or to exempt a person from any requirement under the Regulations, for the purpose of ensuring the health or welfare of any animal (regulation 28). A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of 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