UK Offence Report

Powers of inspectors

regulation 20(5) of The Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2009

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

5 It is an offence to deface, obliterate or remove any mark applied under this regulation except under the written authority of an inspector.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 20(5)?

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 deface, obliterate or remove any mark applied under this regulation except under the written authority of an inspector.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2009.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019
Made
7 September 2009
In force from
1 October 2009
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 enforce Commission Regulation (EC) No. 504/2008 (“the Commission Regulation”) in relation to Wales, and revoke and replace the Horse Passports (Wales) Regulations 2005. These Regulations provide for identification of horses and other equidae by means of an identification document and an electronic microchip inserted into the animal. The electronic microchip will contain a unique life number which is recorded on both the identification document and on a National Equine Database. Part 2 of the Regulations create offences for breach of provisions of the Commission Regulation, and provide for the administration of veterinary medicinal products for horses intended for human consumption. This Part also makes special provisions for specified populations of horses living on certain commons. Part 3 provides that the Regulations are enforced by the local authority, except in certain specified circumstances, and confers powers of enforcement upon inspectors. Breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable— a on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or b on conviction on indictment, to a fine. A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared and copies are available from the Department for Rural Affairs, Welsh Assembly Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. It is also available on the Welsh Assembly Government website at www.wales.gov.uk.

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