UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 2000

article 2(4) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2010

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

4 After article 3(3) insert—

4 A person who fails to comply with article 2A(2) is guilty of an offence. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
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 2(4)?

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.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person fails to comply with article 2A(2).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2010, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£50,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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.

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
29 April 2010
In force from
31 May 2010
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 note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order amends the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/51) (“the 2000 Order”) in relation to Northern Ireland. It provides for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No 1966/2006 on electronic recording and reporting of fishing activities and on means of remote sensing (OJ No L 409, 30.12.2006, p 1) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1077/2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1966/2006 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1566/2007 (OJ No L 295, 4.11.2008, p 3) in relation to the requirement to submit sales notes and take-over declarations electronically. Article 2(3) establishes a public register, to be maintained by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, of those required to submit sales notes electronically because they have an annual financial turnover in excess of €400,000. A failure by a seller or a buyer of fish to inform the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development by 1st October in any calendar year whether it has such a financial turnover is an offence which is punishable on summary conviction by a maximum fine of £50,000 or, on indictment, by a fine. Article 2(6) amends paragraphs 2(e) and (f) of the Schedule to the 2000 Order to make it an offence for a first seller, or a buyer, of fish with an annual financial turnover in excess of €400,000 not to submit sales notes electronically. It also makes it an offence for the holder of the fish when products are not offered for sale or are intended for sale at a later date not to submit take-over declarations electronically. The maximum fine on summary conviction for breach of either offence is £50,000 or, on indictment, a fine. A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to this Order has been prepared and placed in the library of the Assembly, and on the Departmental website.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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