UK Offence Report

1 It is an offence for a person, without lawful authority or excuse, to contravene any licence condition.

regulation 22(1) of The Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014

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

1 It is an offence for

a person, without lawful authority or excuse, to contravene any licence condition.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

1 It is an offence for a person, without lawful authority or excuse, to contravene any licence condition.

What would breach regulation 22(1)?

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 Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
10 December 2014
In force from
30 April 2015
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 provide for the licensing of persons involved in the breeding of dogs. Part 2 of the Regulations specifies dog breeding for the purposes of section 13(1) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (c.45) (“the Act”). The consequence of this specification is that, subject to qualifying criteria, any person wishing to breed dogs in Wales must obtain a licence from their local authority under these Regulations. This requirement replaces the requirement to obtain a licence under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 in Wales. A person who breeds dogs in Wales without a licence under these Regulations commits an offence under section 13(6) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and is liable to imprisonment for a term of up to 6 months, a fine or both. Under section 30 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 local authorities may prosecute for any offence under the Act. Part 3 of the Regulations sets out how a person may apply to the local authority for a licence and sets out matters in respect of which a local authority must be satisfied when considering the granting and renewing of a licence. It provides for a local authority to charge fees to cover any reasonable expenses incurred in performing this function and for monitoring compliance with these Regulations. It requires a local authority to have regard to guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers in carrying out their functions under these Regulations. Part 4 sets out circumstances in which a licence maybe suspended, varied or revoked. Part 5 provides for appeals against licensing decisions by local authorities. Part 6 provides that a breach of a condition of a licence granted under these Regulations is an offence. It provides powers for inspectors to take samples and enter premises and applies relevant post conviction powers contained in the Act. It provides for local authorities to enforce the Regulations. It provides that licences granted under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 continue to have effect as if granted under these Regulations. Schedule 1 to these Regulations sets out compulsory licence conditions which must be included on each licence granted by a local authority. Schedule 2 to these Regulations amends the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 and amends references to it in 4 Acts consequential upon the repeal of section 1(1) of that Act in relation to Wales. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

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.

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