UK Offence Report

16 If a person on whom a stop notice is served does not comply with it within the time limit specified in…

paragraph 16 of SCHEDULE 2 of The Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations 2018

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

16 If a person on whom a stop notice is served does not comply with it within the time limit specified in the notice, the person is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine (not exceeding the statutory maximum in Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 16 of SCHEDULE 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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations 2018.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9917 — 09917 - Triable either way offences under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations 2018, para 1. 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
7 June 2018
In force from
1 October 2018
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 provide for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild flora and fauna by regulating trade therein (OJ No L 61, 3.3.97, p 1) (“the Principal Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006 laying down detailed rules concerning the implementation of that Council Regulation (OJ No L 166, 19.6.2006, p 1) (“the Subsidiary Regulation”). In addition, they confer powers and functions on the Secretary of State. The Principal Regulation implements in the European Union the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Contravention of articles 4 and 5 of the Principal Regulation is an offence under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c.2). Regulation 3(1) (and Schedule 1) provides that a person who fails to comply with certain provisions of this Regulation, the Principal Regulation or the Subsidiary Regulation (“the instruments”) is guilty of an offence. Regulation 3(2) (and Schedule 2) provides for civil sanctions for failure to comply with certain provisions of the instruments. Regulation 4 provides for defences to offences under Article 8 of the Principal Regulation. Regulation 5 relates to the case where it is possible that a specimen is both of a category listed in Annex A and a category listed in Annex B, and in this case provides for a statutory presumption in favour of Annex A. Regulation 6 requires that an advertisement for the sale of an Annex A specimen includes a reference to the certificate authorising commercial use of the specimen. Regulation 7 provides for seizure of specimens by a general customs official and forfeiture of a seized specimen. Regulation 8 provides for powers of entry for police and wildlife inspectors. Regulation 9 provides for powers of seizure by the police and provides for reimbursement of expenses incurred by police in connection with seizure. Regulation 10 provides powers for the courts to order forfeiture of specimens and other items, and to impose a ban on a convicted person preventing the person from holding a specimen for a period of time. Regulation 11 provides for offences by corporations and Scottish partnerships. Regulation 12 provides that the Secretary of State is the management authority for the purposes of the instruments and that the Secretary of State may designate scientific authorities for the purposes of the instruments. Regulation 13 provides that the Secretary of State may designate ports of entry and exit for the purposes of the instruments. Regulation 14 provides for revocations. Regulation 15 provides for savings and transitional provisions. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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