Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003
Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003
asp 12
[22nd April 2003]
and received Royal Assent on[13th March 2003]
The Bill for this Act of the Scottish Parliament was passed by the Parliament onAn Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision in relation to the offence of dog fouling, including fixed penalty notices for such an offence; and for connected purposes.
1 Offence
(1) Subject to section 3, if a dog defecates at any time upon any place to which this Act applies and a person who is in charge of the dog at that time fails immediately to remove the faeces from the place, that person shall be guilty of an offence unless—
(a) the person has a reasonable excuse for failing to do so; or
(b) the owner, occupier and other person or authority having control of the place has consented (generally or specifically) to the person failing to do so.
(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.
(3) For the purposes of this section—
(a) a person who habitually has possession of a dog shall be taken to be in charge of the dog at any time unless at that time some other person is in charge of the dog;
(b) placing the faeces in a receptacle which is provided for the purpose, or for the disposal of waste, shall be sufficient removal from the place;
(c) throwing, depositing, dropping or otherwise putting the faeces onto any other place to which this Act applies shall not be sufficient removal from the place; and
(d) being unaware of the defecation (whether by reason of not being in the vicinity or otherwise), or not having a device for or other suitable means of removing the faeces, shall not be a reasonable excuse for failing to remove the faeces.
(4) In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be lawful to convict the accused on the evidence of one witness.
2 Places to which Act applies
(1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), this Act applies to any public open place.
(2) This Act does not apply to agricultural land.
(3) In this Act—
‘agricultural land’ has the same meaning as in section 86(1) of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 (c.45) except that it does not include land not in agricultural use and designated by the Scottish Ministers in pursuance of that section; and
‘public open place’ means—
(a) any place which is open to the air to which the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission; and
(b) any common passage, close, court, stair, back green, garden, yard or other similar common area.
(4) For the purposes of this section any covered place open to the air on at least one side shall be treated as a place which is ‘open to the air’.
3 Exceptions to offence
(1) Section 1 shall not apply to—
(a) a blind person in charge of a dog being used for that person's guidance;
(b) a person in charge of a working dog being used for the driving or tending of sheep or cattle;
(c) a person in charge of any dog being used on official duties by a member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise or the police force for any area;
(d) a person in charge of a dog being used in emergency rescue work; or
(e) a disabled person with a physical impairment which affects the person's mobility, manual dexterity, physical co-ordination or ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects, who is in charge of a dog trained to assist the person with any such impairment.
(2) The Scottish Ministers may by order amend, remove or add to the exceptions listed in subsection (1).
4 Authorisation by local authority of persons to issue fixed penalty notices
4 Authorisation by local authority of persons to issue fixed penalty notices
Every local authority shall authorise in writing at least one person and such other number of persons as they consider necessary or expedient to issue fixed penalty notices in their area in accordance with this Act.
5 Issue of fixed penalty notices
(1) Where—
(a) an authorised officer of a local authority finds a person whom the officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having committed an offence under section 1 in the area of that authority; or
(b) a constable finds a person whom the constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having committed an offence under section 1,
the officer or, as the case may be, constable may issue that person with a fixed penalty notice.
(2) In the circumstances set out in subsection (1)(a), the authorised officer may require the person suspected of having committed the offence to give that person's name and address.
(3) When making that requirement, the officer shall inform the person—
(a) that the officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the person has committed an offence under section 1; and
(b) that failure to comply with the requirement may be an offence.
(4) A person who has been required under this section to give that person's name and address and, without reasonable excuse, fails to do so shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.
(5) A fixed penalty notice shall be issued as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any case, not later than 7 days after the commission of the offence to which the notice relates.
(6) Where a constable has issued a fixed penalty notice, the constable shall send a copy of the fixed penalty notice to the local authority in whose area the offence was committed no later than 24 hours after the notice was issued.
(7) A fixed penalty notice may be issued to a person under this section by handing or delivering it to that person.
(8) Where an authorised officer or, as the case may be, constable has been unsuccessful in issuing a fixed penalty notice to a person in accordance with subsection (7), the officer or constable may issue the fixed penalty notice by—
(a) leaving it at that person's last known address; or
(b) sending it by post to that person at that address.
(9) Where an authorised officer or, as the case may be, constable has issued a fixed penalty notice in accordance with subsection (7), the officer or constable shall send a copy of the notice by post to that person at that person's last known address as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any case, not later than 7 days after the notice has been issued.
(10) For the purposes of subsections (8)(b) and (9), the sending of a notice by post is deemed to have been effected when the...
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