UK Offence Report

Amendment to regulation 15

regulation 10 of The Veterinary Medicines (Amendment etc.) 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

10 It is an offence to fail to comply with—

a paragraph 3A(1);

b paragraph 3B; or

c paragraph 9(1).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 10?

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 it is an offence to fail to comply with— a paragraph 3A(1).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Veterinary Medicines (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2024, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
1 year
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
25 April 2024
In force from
17 May 2024
Extent
E+W+S

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 the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2033, “the 2013 Regulations”) in respect of Great Britain only. Part 2 amends Parts 1 to 5 of the 2013 Regulations. New and amended provision is made in respect of— the manufacture of veterinary medicinal products (regulation 5); the prohibition of supply of veterinary medicinal products after their expiry date (regulation 6); advertising and promotion of veterinary medicinal products (regulations 7 to 9); exemptions from the scope of the 2013 Regulations (regulation 10); record-keeping requirements (regulations 11 to 15); imports of unauthorised veterinary medicinal products (regulation 16); appeals (regulation 17); exports (regulation 18); time limits (regulation 19); enforcement (regulations 20 to 25). Regulation 4 amends the interpretation provision in the 2013 Regulations, and regulation 26 amends the statutory review clause so as to provide that the report in respect of the next review must be published by 31st December 2028. Part 3 amends Schedule 1 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs applications for marketing authorisations in respect of veterinary medicinal products. Part 4 amends Schedule 2 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs the manufacture of veterinary medicinal products. Regulation 92 inserts new Part 2 to that Schedule, concerning the authorisation of autogenous vaccines, blood-banks, stem cell centres and products manufactured under the cascade. Regulation 93 inserts new Part 2A (regulating active substances) and Part 2B (offences) to that Schedule. Part 5 amends Schedule 3 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs classification and supply of veterinary medicines, wholesale dealers and sheep dip. Part 6 amends Schedule 4 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs administration of veterinary medicines outside the terms of a marketing authorisation. Part 7 amends Schedule 5 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs medicated feedingstuffs and specified feed additives. Part 8 amends Schedule 6 to the 2013 Regulations, which governs exemptions from the 2013 Regulations in respect of small pet animals. Part 9 amends Schedule 7 to the 2013 Regulations, which sets out fees in respect of the 2013 Regulations. Part 10 sets out transitional provisions in respect of certain amendments in earlier Parts of the instrument concerning— labelling of veterinary medicinal products (regulation 200); advertising (regulation 201); wholesale supply of veterinary medicinal products by marketing authorisation holders (regulation 202); prescriptions (regulations 203 and 204); feedingstuffs labelling requirements (regulation 205); medicated feedingstuffs prescription requirements (regulation 206); sampling (regulations 207 and 208). Part 11 contains a consequential amendment to assimilated direct legislation, revoking Commission Regulation (EC) No 1234/2008 concerning the examination of variations to the terms of marketing authorisations for medicinal products for human use and veterinary medicinal products (EUR 2008/1234). 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

What Parliament said

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

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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