UK Offence Report

14 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which lies on him or her — a contravenes any…

article 14 of The Bluetongue (Wales) Order 2003

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

14 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which lies on him or her —

a contravenes any provision of this Order or any provision of

a licence, notice or direction issued under this Order;

b fails to comply with any such licence, notice or direction or with any condition of any such provision;

c causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance;

d damages, interferes with or removes any traps set for the collection of vectors under article 9;

e removes, obliterates or defaces any mark made by

a veterinary inspector under article 9, commits an offence against the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

14 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which lies on him or her — a contravenes any provision of this Order or any provision of a licence, notice or direction issued under this Order; b fails to comply with any such licence, notice or direction or with any condition of any such provision

What would breach article 14?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Bluetongue (Wales) Order 2003, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Bluetongue (Wales) Order 2007
Revoked on
2 November 2007
Made
17 February 2003
In force from
19 February 2003
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order implements Council Directive 2000/75/EC laying down specific provisions for the control and eradication of bluetongue (OJ No.L327, 22.12.2000, p.74). It applies in relation to Wales only. Articles 1, 2 and 3 contain introductory provisions, including definitions of certain terms used in the Order. Article 4 provides that certain activities authorised under the Specified Animal Pathogens Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/463) are not covered by the Order. Article 5 prohibits unlicensed vaccination against the disease. Articles 6 to 9 concern measures when bluetongue is known or suspected to exist on premises. Articles 6 and 7 provide for notification to be given to the Divisional Veterinary Manager and for the isolation of animals when disease is known to exist or is suspected. Article 8 provides for the service of notices by inspectors requiring compliance with certain restrictions. The general powers of inspectors are set out in sections 63 and 64A of the Animal Health Act 1981. Article 9 specifies the powers of veterinary inspectors, officers of the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales to carry out certain tasks on premises after exercising powers of entry. Articles 10 to 13 concern measures when an outbreak of bluetongue has been confirmed. Article 10 provides for the service of notices. Articles 11 and 12 set out the restrictions which apply in areas declared to be infected areas by the Secretary of State under the Animal Health Act 1981. Article 13 applies provisions in that Act relating to the slaughter of animals. Article 14 sets out the general duties of occupiers and keepers under the Order. Article 15 sets out the powers of inspectors when the requirements in notices are not complied with. Article 16 sets out their general powers. General requirements in respect of licences, notices and directions are specified in article 17. Article 18 provides that the Order shall be executed and enforced by the local authority. Article 19 revokes the Special Diseases (Notification and Slaughter) Order 1992 (S.I. 1992/3159) and the Specified Diseases (Notification) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996 2628) insofar as they apply to bluetongue. Failure to comply with the Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981. A Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared and published on the National Assembly for Wales web-site (www.wales.gov.uk). Copies are available from the Welsh Assembly Government, Animal Health Division, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

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