Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024

Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024

2024 asp 4

The Act

Part 2—Muirburn licensing

Requirement for muirburn licence

Section 12—Requirement for muirburn licence

73. Section 12 criminalises the making of muirburn where it is not done in accordance with the terms of a muirburn licence that has effect at the time. As the offence may also be committed by a person who causes or permits the making of muirburn, it applies not only to the person who starts the fires but also, for example, the estate manager who orders the making of muirburn.

74. A muirburn licence is a licence granted under section 14. A muirburn licence only has effect for the period it says it has effect (see section 15(1)(d)), and does not have effect within that period if and for so long as it has been suspended under section 16 (see subsection (5) of that section).

75. Section 12(5) sets the maximum penalty for committing the offence as 6 months’ imprisonment and a level 5 fine on the standard scale. A judge may choose to impose a lesser sentence depending on the circumstances of the case. The standard scale for fines is set out in section 225 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. At the time of the Bill’s introduction, level 5 on the standard scale was £5,000.

76. Section 12(1) provides that a reasonable excuse may be available to a person who has made muirburn in contravention of a muirburn licence. Examples of what may constitute a reasonable excuse are:

• an employee who is ordered to make muirburn in contravention of a muirburn licence by an estate manager,

• a person who has had to make a firebreak to prevent the spread of an active wildfire, and thus did not have the time to apply for a muirburn licence.

77. Section 12(3) clarifies a specific circumstance where an offence is not committed. This is where a person has a muirburn licence in relation to land, and the licence is for land that is not peatland. If the person makes muirburn in accordance with that licence and later find out that the land is peatland, the person has not committed an offence.

78. If an unlicensed person makes muirburn in connection with that person’s completion of a muirburn training course (see section 17), then section 12(4) provides that it is not an offence to do so.