UK Offence Report

Retention of bodies of bovine animals pending test results

regulation 1D of The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Wales) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2008 (revoked)

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

1D An approved sampling site to which the body of

a bovine animal has been sent for sampling in accordance with this Part must retain it in accordance with point 6(3) of Annex III to the Community TSE Regulation, and failure to do so is an offence; and

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 1D?

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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Wales) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2008, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
Status not determined
Made
19 December 2008
In force from
12 January 2009
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Wales) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/3154 (W.282)) which enforce Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ No L 147, 31.5.2001, p.1) as amended. Regulation 2 (interpretation) is amended to include a reference to Commission Decision 2008/908/EC authorising certain Member States to review their annual B.S.E monitoring programme (OJ No L 327, 5.12.2008, p.24) in the definition of “Community TSE Regulation” (regulation 3). Regulation 20 (enforcement) is amended to make the Food Standards Agency the enforcement authority in respect of offences of placing products on the market (regulation 4). Schedule 2 (TSE monitoring) is amended to place a duty on those in possession of fallen bovine stock to deliver or arrange for the delivery of carcases to an approved sampling site for brain stem sampling. Those collecting and delivering the carcases of the fallen stock are required to ensure that they are delivered to an approved sampling site. Failure to comply with these provisions is an offence. Schedule 2 is also amended to create new offences of destroying a carcase to which these provisions apply before it has been sampled and of failing to retain carcases prior to obtaining a negative test result and to make provision for the approval of sampling sites by the Welsh Ministers (regulation 5). A substituted Schedule 8 (restrictions on placing on the market and export) makes it an offence to place on the market and export live bovine animals born or reared in the United Kingdom before 1 August 1996 and products derived from them (other than milk or hides) to other Member States and to third countries (regulation 7). Offences are punishable in accordance with regulation 18 of the 2008 Regulations by— a on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or imprisonment for a term of three months or both, or b on conviction on indictment, a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both. A regulatory impact assessment on the effect of this instrument on the costs of business has been prepared and is available from the Welsh Assembly Government, 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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