Offences under the Council Regulation

article 8(2) of The Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018

Status not determined
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

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

2 It is an offence for the person in charge of
a fishing vessel to conduct
a transhipment with
a third country fishing vessel contrary to Article 4(3) of the Council Regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: breaching the provision
Fault element: Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses has reason to believe; which element that governs was not determined.

What would breach article 8(2)?

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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018.

Penalty

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

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
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: 3 May 2018
In force from: 1 June 2018
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 makes provision for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008 (OJ No. L 286, 29.10.2008, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) 1010/2009 (OJ No. L 280, 27.10.2009, p.5) (“the Commission Regulation”) establishing restrictions and obligations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Article 3 designates the competent authorities for the purposes of the Council Regulation and the Commission Regulation. Article 4 provides for controls on movement of consignments of fishery products while verifications are carried out pursuant to Article 17 of the Council Regulation or Article 20 of the Commission Regulation (which can include a request for assistance from the flag state of the fishing vessel to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within, or the validity of, the catch certificate). Article 5 permits movement of such consignments under certain circumstances. Article 6(1) provides for the refusal of importation or permission to use transhipment facilities in circumstances where a landing or transhipment declaration has not been submitted in accordance with Article 8 of the Council Regulation or Article 3 of the Commission Regulation. Articles 6(2) and (3) provide for the seizure and sale, disposal and destruction of fishery products upon refusal of importation in the circumstances set out in Article 18(1) or (2) the Council Regulation. Article 7 provides that a district council may charge a fee in respect of each consignment reflecting the expenses it has reasonably incurred. Article 8 provides that certain activities prohibited in the Council Regulation are offences punishable summarily or on indictment and Article 9 provides for the penalties for such offences. Articles 10 sets out the process in relation to the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrate’s court. Articles 11 to 14 provide for powers of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order. Article 15 describes conditions for the protection of British sea-fishery officers from civil or criminal proceedings as a result of actions taken to enforce this Order. Article 16 provides for an offence for the obstruction of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order. Articles 17 to 20 make provision for offences committed by bodies corporate, exchange of information, obtaining samples, and the admissibility of documents in evidence.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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 0.90.

Basis: the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence: 0.90 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 (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 2018