UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 35(1) of The African Horse Sickness (England) Regulations 2012

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 A person is guilty of an offence if that person fails to comply with any of the following provisions—

a regulation 3(4) (occupier to give reasonable assistance to enable main occupier to comply with obligations);

b regulation 3(5) (main occupier to take reasonable steps to inform other occupiers of movement restrictions arising from notice);

c regulation 5(1) or (2) (requirement to notify Secretary of State of suspect horse or carcase etc);

d regulation 7(7)(a)(i), (ii) or (iii) (prohibition on movement of notified horse or carcase; equipment or genetic material; or other horses);

e regulation 7(7)(b)(i) or (ii) (obligation to move horses and identify vectors etc);

f regulation 11(3) (prohibition on persons moving horses onto premises);

g regulation 14(5)(a), (b) or (c) (controls relating to slaughterhouses);

h regulation 17(4) (prohibition on unlicensed movement within temporary movement restriction zone);

i regulation 18(7) (prohibition on unlicensed movement out of protection zone or out of surveillance zone to an area free from restrictions);

j regulation 18(8)(a) or (b) (prohibition on unlicensed movement of asses etc or movement of horses showing clinical signs of African horse sickness);

k regulation 21(3) (obligation to comply with restrictions and measures imposed by declaration under regulation 17(5), 18(9), or 19(3));

l regulation 24 (prohibition on vaccination);

m regulation 25(2) (requirement to vaccinate in accordance with declaration of vaccination zone);

n regulation 26(1) or (2) (requirement to identify vaccinated horse and to keep records; prohibition on unlicensed movement of vaccinated horse);

o regulation 27(9) (requirement to comply with notice);

p regulation 28(2)(a) or (b) (requirement to carry licence or copy; requirement to produce etc licence);

q regulation 28(4)(a), (b) or (c) (requirement to carry document; requirement to produce etc document; requirement to keep document);

r regulation 31 (obligation on new main occupier to allow entry for purposes of feeding or welfare);

s regulation 34 (obstruction);

t paragraph 1, 2, or

4 of the Schedule (requirement to keep records etc; requirement as to housing of horses; requirement to implement vector control);

u paragraph

3 of the Schedule (prohibition on unlicensed movement).

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
obstructing an official exercising a power
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 35(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 an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with any of the following provisions— a regulation 3(4) (occupier to give reasonable assistance to enable main occupier to comply with obligations).
  2. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the African Horse Sickness (England) Regulations 2012.
  3. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  4. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
6 months

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
15 October 2012
In force from
21 November 2012
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 implement in England the provisions of Council Directive 92/35/EEC laying down control rules and measures to combat African horse sickness (OJ L No 157, 10.6.1992 p19). They revoke the provisions of the Specified Diseases (Notification and Slaughter) Order 1992 and the Specified Diseases (Notification) Order 1996 in so far as they apply to African horse sickness. Part 1 is introductory and includes definitions. Part 2 deals with notification of suspicion of African horse sickness. Part 3 and the Schedule make provision for where African horse sickness is suspected or confirmed on premises. Part 3 also deals with premises which have a link with infected premises and makes provision, following the declaration of premises as infected premises, to prevent horses from being brought onto other premises due to the risk of African horse sickness virus spreading. Part 4 deals with slaughterhouses. Part 5 makes special provision for non-captive horses. Part 6 and the Schedule make provision for the establishment of area controls by way of declaration of different zones. Part 7 prohibits vaccination against African horse sickness except in the circumstances set out there, and contains powers to declare a vaccination zone. Part 8 contains provisions relating to inspection, enforcement and other matters. These Regulations are enforced by the local authority. Breach of any of the provisions listed in regulation 35 is an offence punishable on summary conviction or on conviction on indictment. On summary conviction, the offence is punishable with either a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum only, or (where there is a higher risk of the disease spreading due to the breach) a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both. On conviction on indictment, the offence is punishable with a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both. Regulation 41 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Regulation 2(1) refers to British Standard 7320, copies of which can be obtained from the website of the British Standards Institute (BSI), from any of the sales outlets operated by the BSI or by post from BSI Customer Services, 389 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4AL. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is published on www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/uploaded/DEFRA0113%20AHS%20Final%20IA.pdf, and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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