The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Exceptions to section 14) (Scotland) Order 2012

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order specifies the types of animal and the types of plant to which the offence provisions in section 14(1)(a)(i) and 14(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (“the 1981 Act”) (as substituted by section 14(2)(a) of the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011) do not apply.

Section 14(1)(a)(i) of the 1981 Act makes it an offence for any person to release, or allow to escape from captivity, any animal to a place outwith its native range. Section 14(2B)(a) enables the Scottish Minsters to specify by order types of animals to which subsection (1)(a)(i) of section 14 does not apply. Article 2(1) of, and Part 1 of the Schedule to, the Order lists the type of animal specified for the purpose of section 14(2B)(a) thereby taking that type of animal outwith the ambit of the offence provision in section 14(1)(a)(i) of the 1981 Act.

Section 14(2) of the 1981 Act makes it an offence for any person to plant, or otherwise cause to grow, any plant in the wild at a place outwith its native range. Section 14(2B)(b) enables the Scottish Ministers to specify, by order, types of plants to which subsection (2) does not apply. Article 2(2) of, and Part 2 of the Schedule to, the Order lists types of plants for the purpose of section 14(2B)(b) thereby taking those types of plants outwith the ambit of the offence provision in section 14(2) of the 1981 Act.