UK Offence Report

Powers of inspectors

regulation 17(4) of The Avian Influenza (Vaccination) (Wales) Regulations 2006

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

4 Any person who defaces, obscures or removes any mark applied under paragraph (3) is guilty of 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 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 regulation 17(4)?

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 defaces, obscures or removes any mark applied under paragraph (3).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Avian Influenza (Vaccination) (Wales) Regulations 2006.

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 Avian Influenza (Vaccination) (Wales) (No.2) Regulations 2006
Revoked on
14 November 2006
Made
5 July 2006
In force from
6 July 2006
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations transpose for Wales Council Directive 2005/94/EC on Community measures for the control of avian influenza repealing Directive 92/40/EEC (OJ No. L10, 14.1.2006, p. 16) insofar as it deals with vaccination against avian influenza. Regulation 4 imposes a general prohibition on vaccination of animals against avian influenza except where required by the National Assembly. Regulations 5 and 6 require the National Assembly to declare vaccination zones in areas which contain poultry or other captive birds which it considers should be vaccinated to prevent the risk of the spread of avian influenza, or to serve vaccination notices on premises where such birds are kept. Such measures can only be carried out where a risk assessment has been carried out and it has indicated that there is a risk of avian influenza spreading within or into Wales, or that certain areas or birds are in any event exposed to the risk of avian influenza. These measures will be emergency or preventive, depending on the nature of the risk. Regulation 7 extends the power to vaccinate animals in section 16 of the Animal Health Act 1981 (c. 22, amended by the Animal Health Act 2002, c. 42) (“the Act”) and consequentially, the effect of the other provisions of the Act relation to vaccination. Regulation 8 provides for measures applying in a vaccination zone or premises stipulated in a vaccination notice. The National Assembly must stipulate in the declaration or notice whether vaccination is required to be carried out by the occupier of the relevant premises or whether it is to be carried out by it and co-operation is required. There is also a general prohibition on the movement of poultry or other captive birds within, into or out of the zone or premises unless authorised by licence. Regulation 9 provides that where emergency vaccination is undertaken before the Commission has approved the emergency vaccination plan, any licence permitting the movement of poultry or other captive birds must impose the requirements set out in the Schedule. Regulation 10 makes provision for birds which ought to have been included in a vaccination programme but were not for any reason vaccinated. Regulation 11 requires occupiers to provide facilities, equipment and materials where cleansing and disinfection of vehicles is required on their premises. Regulation 12 provides for the feeding and tending of animals or poultry which cannot be moved on termination of a right of occupation because of a restriction imposed by the Regulations. Regulations 13 to 22 make provision related to offences and enforcement. In particular, regulation 18 applies offence related provisions of the Act as if the Regulations were empowered by the Act; consequentially, failure to comply with the Regulations is an offence under section 73 of the Act (regulation 18(1)(f)). Regulation 18(3) provides that a person guilty of an offence under these Regulations will be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding £5000 or both. A regulatory appraisal of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business has not been prepared. A Transposition Note setting out how elements of Directive 2005/94/EC are transposed in these Regulations may be obtained from the National Assembly for Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.92.

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