UK Offence Report

Approval of manufacturers and distributors of feedingstuffs containing veterinary medicinal products

regulation 7(4) of The Veterinary Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (revoked)

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

4 A manufacturer must ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the veterinary medicinal product is evenly incorporated throughout the feedingstuffs and failure to do so is an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 manufacturer
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a manufacturer personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: so far as is reasonably practicable, reasonably practicable.

What would breach regulation 7(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.

  1. Not doing what the provision requires under the Veterinary Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2012, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
26 October 2012
In force from
1 December 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 amend Schedule 5 (medicated feedingstuffs and specified feed additives) to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2159) (“the 2011 Regulations”). Regulation 2 amends paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 to the 2011 Regulations to provide that manufacturers and distributors of feedingstuffs containing veterinary medicinal products must be approved (as required by Council Directive 90/167/EEC (OJ No L 92, 7.4.1990, p. 42)) in accordance with the conditions governing approval of feed business establishments under Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 (OJ No L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 1). Regulation 3 makes it an offence to fail to comply with paragraph 17(2) and (3) of Schedule 5 to the 2011 Regulations. Regulation 4 amends paragraph 22 of Schedule 5 to the 2011 Regulations to replace a reference to a repealed EU instrument, Council Directive 76/371/EEC (OJ No L 102, 15.4.1976, p. 1) with a reference to the current EU instrument, Commission Regulation (EC) No 152/2009 (OJ No L 54, 26.2.2009, p. 1). A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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