The Horse Passports Regulations 2009

PART 3 Powers and penalties

Enforcement

19.  These Regulations are enforced by the following local authorities—

(a) in any part of England where there is, within the meaning of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(1), a unitary authority for that local government area, that authority;

(b) where there is not a unitary authority—

(i) in a metropolitan district, the council of that district;

(ii) in a non-metropolitan county, the council of that county; or

(iii) in each London borough, the council of that borough;

(c) in the City of London, the Common Council.

Powers of entry

20.—(1) An inspector may, on producing a duly authenticated authorisation if required, at all reasonable hours, enter any premises (excluding any premises not containing any horse and used only as a dwelling) for the purpose of administering and enforcing these Regulations; and in this regulation “ premises” includes any vehicle or container.

(2) An inspector may—

(a) require the production of a passport and mark it as necessary;

(b) carry out any inquiries;

(c) have access to, and inspect and copy any documents or records (in whatever form they are held) relevant to these Regulations, and remove them to enable them to be copied;

(d) inspect and check the operation of any computer and any associated apparatus or material that is or has been in use in connection with documents or records; and

(e) mark any horse for identification purposes.

(3) Where an inspector has entered any premises and it is not reasonably practicable to determine whether documents on those premises are relevant to these Regulations, the inspector may seize them to ascertain whether or not they are relevant.

(4) The inspector may be accompanied by—

(a) such other persons as the inspector considers necessary, and

(b) any representative of the European Commission acting for the purpose of the enforcement of a Community obligation.

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

(6) In this regulation and regulation 21 “inspector” means a person appointed as such by a local authority or the Secretary of State for the enforcement of these Regulations or under the Animal Health Act 1981(2).

Obstruction

21.  It is an offence—

(a) intentionally to obstruct an inspector acting in the execution of these Regulations;

(b) without reasonable cause, to fail to give to an inspector acting in the execution of these Regulations any assistance or information that that person may reasonably require under these Regulations;

(c) to furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any information knowing it to be false or misleading; or

(d) to fail to produce a document, record or passport when required to do so to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations.

Penalties

22.  A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Offences by bodies corporate

23.—(1) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under these Regulations, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of—

(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar person of the body corporate, or

(b) any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,

that person, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of the offence.

(2) In this regulation “director”, in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

Offences by partnerships and unincorporated associations

24.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under these Regulations alleged to have been committed by a partnership or an unincorporated association may be brought in the name of the partnership or association.

(2) For the purposes of such proceedings—

(a) rules of court relating to the service of documents are to have effect as if the partnership or association were a body corporate;

(b) section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925(3) and Schedule 3 to the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980(4) apply in relation to the partnership or association as they apply in relation to a body corporate.

(3) A fine imposed on a partnership or association on its conviction for an offence under these Regulations is to be paid out of the funds of the partnership or association.

(4) Where an offence under these Regulations committed by a partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, that partner (as well as the partnership) is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

For these purposes, “partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.

(5) Where an offence under these Regulations committed by an unincorporated association is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the association, that officer (as well as the association) is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

For these purposes, “officer” means an officer of the association or a member of its governing body, or a person purporting to act in such capacity.

Revocations

25.  The Horse Passports (England) Regulations 2004(5) are revoked.

(1)

S. I. 1994/867.

(2)

1981 c. 22.

(3)

1925 c. 86. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 33 were repealed by the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1952 (c. 55), section 132 and Schedule 6; subsection (3) was amended by the Courts Act 1971 (c. 23), section 56(1) and Schedule 8, part II, paragraph 19; subsection (4) was amended by the Courts Act 2003 (c. 39), section 109(1) and (3), Schedule 8, paragraph 71 and Schedule 10, and by the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (c. 43), section 154 and Schedule 7, paragraph 5; subsection (5) was repealed by the Magistrates’ Court Act 1952, section 132, Schedule 6.

(4)

1980 c. 43. Sub-paragraph 2(a) was amended by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (c. 25), section 47, Schedule 1, paragraph 13, and was repealed by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44), sections 41 and 332, Schedule 3, part 2, paragraph 51, sub-paragraphs (1), (13)(a), and Schedule 37, part 4 (with effect from a date to be appointed); paragraph 5 was repealed by the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53), sections 25(2) and 101(2) and Schedule 13; paragraph 6 was amended by the Criminal Justice Act 2003, section 41, Schedule 3, part 2, paragraph 51, sub-paragraphs (1) and (13)(b) (with effect from a date to be appointed).

(5)

S.I. 2004/1397.