Maintenance of logbooks requirements and related offence

Q: Is article 14(1) of The Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) (Monitoring, Inspection and Surveillance) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

article 14(1) of The Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) (Monitoring, Inspection and Surveillance) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006

Status not determined
Strict liability
Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairs

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 A person in charge of
a fishing boat is guilty of an offence if he fails to comply with the requirements in this Article.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: failing to comply with a notice or direction
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 14(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with the requirements in this Article.
Being served with a notice under the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) (Monitoring, Inspection and Surveillance) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Animal cruelty: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017
Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: Status not determined
Made: 4 July 2006
In force from: 1 August 2006
Extent: Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

This Order provides in Northern Ireland and in relation to Northern Ireland fishing boats for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of Annex IIA and IIC (“the Annexes”) to Council Regulation (EC) No 51/2006 (OJ No L16, 20.1.06, p1) fixing for 2006 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required (“the Regulation”). The Order contains provisions which create a management system for days at sea based on monthly entitlements and linked to management periods. Article 4 deals with the establishment of management periods. Article 6 contains offences in relation to management periods. Article 7 provides for the calculation of allocation of days for fishing in the Cod Recovery and Sole Recovery Zones which are defined in Article 3 as covering the geographical areas covered by the Annexes. Article 8 provides for the calculation of the allocation of days when a fishing boat is involved in pair trawling. Articles 9 and 10 provide for the adjustment of allocations of days by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Article 11 contains offences in relation to allocations of days and other restrictions on presence in the Cod Recovery and Sole Recovery Zones. Article 12 provides for transfers of days and Article 13 contains an offence of giving false information in a notification made for the purpose of a transfer. Article 14 creates offences in relation to restrictions in both Annexes on the carriage and operation of fishing gears and the combined use of regulated and unregulated gears. Article 15 contains provisions on, and an offence relating to, the maintenance of log-books. Articles 16 to 20 provide for offences in relation to further controls in Annex II on fishing in the Sole Recovery Zone. Part 4 of the Order makes provision for enforcement. Article 22 deals with penalties and article 23 provides for the recovery of fines imposed, or treated as imposed, by a magistrates' court. Articles 24, 25 and 27 confer various powers on British sea-fishery officers including the power to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats and to stop and search vehicles transporting fish. Article 32 makes consequential amendments to the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order (Northern Ireland) 2005 (S.I 2005/350).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

A person in charge of a Northern Ireland fishing boat is guilty of an offence if the boat is absent from…article 10(5)
Notwithstanding an allocation of days under Article 7(3) or an equivalent provision, a person in charge of a…article 10(6)
Notwithstanding the allocation of days under Article 7(4) or an equivalent provision, a person in charge of…article 10(7)
Notwithstanding the allocation of days under Article 7(5) or an equivalent provision, a person in charge of…article 10(8)
A person is guilty of an offence if he makes a false declaration in a notification made in respect of a…article 12
A person in charge of a fishing boat in respect of which point 17 or 18 of the Cod Annex applies, is guilty…article 13(1)
Transhipment or landing relating to third countriesarticle 15(1)
Mixing of speciesarticle 16
Weighing solearticle 17
Transport of solearticle 18
Recording information on catches of solearticle 19
Obstruction of officersarticle 28(1)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) (Monitoring, Inspection and Surveillance) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Agriculture, plant health, food production and rural affairsOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2006