The Animal Health (Fixed Penalty Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2026: Equality Impact Assessment

Executive summary

The Animal Health (Fixed Penalty Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 (the Regulations) will introduce a FPN scheme for certain offences under animal health and bee legislation. The scheme aims to provide enforcement agencies with a proportionate and efficient enforcement method that that does not require referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) but still provide a meaningful and dissuasive penalty for those who are considered to have committed an offence. FPNs are intended to support early redirection through behaviour change to promote compliance with animal health rules.

This Equality Impact assessment (EQIA) considers the impact of the Regulations on people with one or more protected characteristic. Current evidence demonstrates that the impact of the Regulations on equality is limited and it does not impose any additional impacts on any individuals falling within current protected characteristics when compared to the existing policy.

The effectiveness of the FPN scheme relies on consistent and appropriate use by enforcement bodies. Failure to apply FPNs as intended could undermine compliance, reduce deterrence, and could compromise the integrity of the regulatory framework. To address this risk, guidance for enforcement agencies will be developed to support them to use FPNs appropriately and consistently. Additionally, FPNs will be introduced for certain offences under a small number of statutory instruments under the Animal Health Act 1981 and the Bees Act 1980. This will allow monitoring and evaluation to be undertaken before expanding the use of FPNs to other animal and bee health offences.