UK Offence Report

1 The holder of a primate licence who fails to comply with a licence condition commits an offence.

regulation 14(1) of The Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024

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 The holder of

a primate licence who fails to comply with

a licence condition commits 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
breaching a condition of a licence, permit or consent
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 14(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 a licence condition.
  2. Holding a valid licence but doing the thing it allows outside the hours, place or limits its conditions set under the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024.
  3. Failing to do something a condition positively requires - a record, a notification, a monitoring step - even though the licensed activity itself is carried on properly.

Penalty

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

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
5 March 2024
In force from
Not determined
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 make provision for the protection of the welfare of primates that are kept in England. Part 1 provides that a person who keeps or is proposing to keep a primate in England on or after 6th April 2026 may only do so if the person has a primate licence under these Regulations or an exception applies. Regulation 4 specifies two exceptions for these purposes, namely where the primate is kept in a zoo under the authority of a licence granted under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (c. 37) or where the primate is kept in a place specified in a licence under section 2C of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (c. 14). A primate licence must be obtained from the local authority in whose area the premises at which the primates are kept or to be kept are situated. A person who keeps a primate in England without a primate licence (where required) will be committing an offence under section 13(6) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (c. 45) (“the 2006 Act”) and will be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term of up to six months, a fine or both. Part 2 sets out how an application for a primate licence is to be made, how local authorities are to determine whether to grant an application for a primate licence and how primate licences are to be renewed, varied or surrendered. Local authorities must attach the licence conditions set out in Schedule 1 to each primate licence and may charge fees in respect of applications relating to primate licences and inspections arranged under this Part. Part 3 makes it an offence for the holder of a primate licence to fail to comply with a licence condition. Any person who is convicted of this offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine. Part 3 also makes further provision for enforcement by conferring powers on local authorities to serve rectification notices and to revoke or vary primate licences. Part 4 and Schedule 2 make provision for representations and appeals to be made in relation to certain decisions made by local authorities under these Regulations. The powers of entry and search under warrant in section 23 of the 2006 Act apply to an offence under section 13(6) of the 2006 Act. Regulation 18 also makes provision for the breach of a licence condition to be treated as a relevant offence for the purposes of section 23 of the 2006 Act. Regulation 19 provides for various post-conviction powers in the 2006 Act to be exercisable in relation to offences under regulation 14. Regulation 20 requires a local authority to have regard to any guidance given by the Secretary of State in the exercise of the local authority’s functions under these Regulations. A full 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 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