The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) (Amendment) Regulations 2007

Transitional provisions

9.—(1) In relation to any offence alleged to have been committed under regulation 39(2)(a) of the 1994 Regulations before 21st November 2007, it shall be a defence for any person to show—

(a) that an application for a licence under regulation 44 of the 1994 Regulations had been made by him (or on his behalf) to the appropriate authority before that date to authorise the possession or control of the animal, part of an animal or other thing in question;

(b) that the application had not been refused by the appropriate authority to whom the application had been made; and

(c) that—

(i) the animal in question, or the animal from which the part or the thing in question is derived, had not been taken or killed, or had been lawfully taken or killed, before 21st August 2007; or

(ii) the animal, part of an animal or other thing in question had been lawfully sold (whether to him or to any other person) before 21st August 2007.

(2) In relation to any offence alleged to have been committed under regulation 43(2)(a) of the 1994 Regulations before 21st November 2007, it shall be a defence for any person to show—

(a) that an application for a licence under regulation 44 of the 1994 Regulations had been made by him (or on his behalf) to the appropriate authority before that date to authorise the possession or control of the plant, part of a plant or other thing in question; and

(b) that the application had not been refused by the appropriate authority to whom the application had been made; and

(c) that the plant, part of a plant or other thing in question had been lawfully sold (whether to him or to any other person) before 21st August 2007.

(3) In this regulation—

“appropriate authority” means—

(a)

where the offence is alleged to have been committed in England, the Secretary of State or Natural England; or

(b)

where the offence is alleged to have been committed in Wales, the Welsh Ministers or the Countryside Council for Wales; and

“lawfully” means without any contravention of the 1994 Regulations or Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.