Control of animal feeds containing undesirable substances

Q: Is regulation 15(2) of The Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015 a strict liability offence?

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.

regulation 15(2) of The Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015

Status not determined
Strict liability
Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairs

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

2 A person who places on the market or uses any complementary feed commits an offence if —
a having regard to the quantity of it recommended for use in
a daily ration, it contains any undesirable substance listed in column
1 of Annex I in excess of the maximum content specified for it in column
3 in relation to complete feeds; and
b there is no provision relating to any complementary feed in the corresponding entry in column
2 of that Annex.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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 15(2)?

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.

On these words an offence is committed where a person places on the market or uses any complementary feed.
Selling the goods under the Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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.

Animal cruelty: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017
Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 25 February 2015
In force from: 6 April 2015
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

These Regulations, which apply in relation to England only — provide for the continuing enforcement or implementation of EU Regulations and Directives on feed safety, genetically modified feed, feed additives, the marketing and use of feed, undesirable substances (contaminants) in feed and feed for particular nutritional purposes; provide for ambulatory references to the EU instruments specified in regulation 2(3); prescribe offences and penalties for failure to comply with the Regulations; revoke or make consequential amendments to certain Regulations; and provide for periodic review of the operation and effect of these Regulations. In Part 2, these Regulations provide for the enforcement of specified provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (OJ No. L131, 1.2.2002, p.1) by making it an offence to contravene those provisions (regulation 4) and by designating the competent authorities for the purposes of that EU instrument (regulation 5). In Part 3 these Regulations provide for the enforcement of specified provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed (OJ No.L268, 18.10.2003, p.1) (regulations 7 and 8). In Part 4 these Regulations provide for the enforcement of specified provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on additives for use in animal nutrition (OJ No.L268, 18.10.2003, p.29) (regulation 10). In Part 5 these Regulations provide for the enforcement of Regulation (EC) No. 767/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the placing on the market and use of feed, amending European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No. 1831/2003 and repealing Council Directive 79/373/EEC, Commission Directive 80/511/EEC, Council Directives 82/471/EEC, 83/228/EEC, 93/74/EEC, 93/113/EC and 96/25/EC and Commission Decision 2004/217/EC (OJ No. L229, 1.9.2009, p.1) (regulations 12 and 13 and Schedule 1). In Part 6 these Regulations implement Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on undesirable substances in animal feed (OJ No. L140, 30.5.2002, p.10) (regulations 14 and 15). In Part 7 these Regulations implement Commission Directive 2008/38/EC establishing a list of intended uses of animal feedingstuffs for particular nutritional purposes (OJ No. L62, 6.3.2008, p.9), (regulation 16 and 17). In Part 8 these Regulations prescribe the maximum penalties that a court may impose on conviction for an offence under these Regulations (regulation 18) and designate local feed authorities as having the duty to enforce (regulation 19). In Part 9 these Regulations make consequential amendments to the Official Feed and Food controls (England) Regulations 2009 (regulation 20), revoke wholly or partially certain instruments (regulation 21 and Schedule 2), and provide for review within 5 years of the way in which these Regulations enforce or implement the relevant EU legislation (regulation 22). A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Animal Feed, TSEs and Animal By-products Branch of the Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the National Archives website.

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.

Exiting the European Union (Food and Agriculture) Commons · 19 March 2019 · Mrs Hodgson
Yes. The issue of chlorine-washed chicken did come up in some of the SI Committees that were held upstairs, and the Minister assured Committee members that chicken would continue to be washed in fresh water and that there would be no sneaking chlorinated chicken into our food chain. I am sure he will reaffirm that today. The first SI today is the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Amendment) (EU Exit)…

Other offences in the same instrument

1 ) Subject to the transitional provisions contained in Article 32, a person who — a contravenes or fails to…regulation 12(1)
Control of animal feeds containing undesirable substancesregulation 15
Control of animal feeds containing undesirable substancesregulation 15(3)
Control of animal feeds containing undesirable substancesregulation 15(4)
Control of animal feeds containing undesirable substancesregulation 15(8)
Control of feed intended for particular nutritional purposesregulation 17(1)
A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a provision specified in paragraph (2) commits an offenceregulation 4(1)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Animal Feed (Composition, Marketing and Use) (England) Regulations 2015 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairsOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2015