UK Offence Report

Choosing to pursue civil sanctions instead of criminal penalties

regulation 35(1) of The Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019

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 An enforcing authority may impose

a civil sanction, or

a combination of civil sanctions, under Part

6 against

a person (an “offender”) if the authority is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offender is guilty of an offence described in Part 4.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an enforcing authority
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 an enforcing authority 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 35(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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 19713 — 19713 - Summary offences under The Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
15 January 2019
In force from
Not determined
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 supplement, and make provision for the enforcement, of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/262 (the “EU Regulation”) in Wales. They provide for the identification of equines, and replace the Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/2470) (W. 199). Part 2 of the Regulations contains provisions which set out various administrative and procedural requirements. In particular, regulation 3 designates the Welsh Ministers as the competent authority and the zootechnical authority for the purposes of the EU Regulation. Other provisions in Part 2 set out various requirements in relation to the identification of equines and the identification document in relation to an equine. Part 3 sets out various exceptions in relation to equines living under wild or semi-wild conditions. Part 4 sets out various criminal offences for breach of provisions of these Regulations and the EU Regulation. Part 5 contains provisions about enforcement and penalties and gives powers to inspectors appointed by the Welsh Ministers or an enforcing authority. In particular, regulation 35 provides that enforcing authorities may choose to apply civil sanctions instead of criminal penalties where they are sure that an offence has been committed. Part 6 then sets out the civil sanctions that are available to enforcing authorities. Part 7 contains a provision for the revocation of the Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2009. 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 the Welsh 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 0.92.

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