UK Offence Report

Powers to restrict movements

regulation 11 of The Cattle Identification (Wales) Regulations 2007

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

11 In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 22(1) of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000, an officer of the National Assembly may serve

a notice on

a keeper of animals on

a holding restricting the movement of cattle to or from the holding if he or she is satisfied that this is necessary for the proper enforcement of that Regulation, these Regulations, Commission Regulation (EC) No. 494/98, No. 509/1999, No. 911/2004 and No. 644/2005, and any person who fails to comply with that notice 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 11?

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 that notice.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Cattle Identification (Wales) Regulations 2007, 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
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
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
13 March 2007
In force from
6 April 2007
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 revoke and remake insofar as they apply in relation to Wales the provisions of— a the Bovine Animals (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995; b the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998; c the Cattle Database Regulations 1998; d the Cattle (Identification of Older Animals) (Wales) Regulations 2000. together with the amendments to those instruments. The principal changes are as follows. The Regulations now allow bison to be tagged up to 9 months after birth (paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 1). They create an offence of transferring eartags between animals (paragraph 4(5) of Schedule 1). They no longer permit the use of temporary calf passports. They permit electronic registration of cattle (paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 2). They change the £50 fee for replacement passports to a fee reflecting the cost of issue (paragraph 4 of Schedule 3). They simplify the provisions on records (Schedule 5). The Regulations enforce— Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97); Commission Regulation (EC) No. 494/98 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 as regards the application of minimum administrative sanctions in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals; Commission Regulation (EC) No. 911/2004 (implementing Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards ear tags, passports and holding registers);and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 644/2005 (authorising a special identification system for bovine animals kept for cultural and historical purposes on approved premises as provided for in Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council). They provide for notification of a holding to the National Assembly if cattle are kept there (regulation 3). They make provision for eartags (regulation 4 and Schedule 1), registration of cattle (regulation 5 and Schedule 2), passports (regulation 6 and Schedule 3) and notification of movement and death (regulation 7 and Schedule 4). They provide for records to be kept in the form specified in Schedule 5. They provide for the enforcement of the Regulations (Part 4). They are enforced by the local authority (regulation 16). Breach of the Regulations is an offence, punishable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both; b on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both. A full regulatory appraisal of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available 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