UK Offence Report

1 Where there is, in respect of– a any Scottish fishing boat wherever it may be; b any other fishing boat…

article 3(1) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000 (revoked)

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 Where there is, in respect of–

a any Scottish fishing boat wherever it may be;

b any other fishing boat within the Scottish Zone; or

c any fishery product, premises or vehicle in Scotland,

a contravention of, or failure to comply with, any Community conservation measure, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 master 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 3(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.

  1. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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.

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
9 March 2000
In force from
31 March 2000
Extent
S

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 revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1949) and the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Amendment) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/2841) (article 13). The Order re-enacts provisions for the enforcement of Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 894/97 (O.J. No. L132, 23.5.97, p.1) laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources (“Regulation 894/97”) and makes provisions for the enforcement of certain of the enforceable Community restrictions and obligations concerning the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms which are contained in Council Regulations (EC) No. 850/98 (O.J. No. L125, 27.4.98, p.1), as amended (“the Council Regulation”). The Order creates offences in respect of breaches of Regulation 894/97, and of the Council Regulation (article 3). The Order provides penalties in relation to an offence under article 3 of the Order or any equivalent provision extending to any other part of the United Kingdom proceedings in respect of which were brought in Scotland by virtue of section 30 (2A) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29) (article 4). (Section 30 (2A) was inserted by the Scotland Act (Consequential Modifications) (No. 2) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1820), Schedule 2, paragraph 68 (5)(a)). The Order makes provision in relation to the recovery of fines imposed in respect of such offences or an offence under article 10 (obstruction of officers) (article 5). The Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers of enforcement in relation to fishing boats and on land. These include power to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8). Provision is also made in relation to the liability of officers for anything done in the purported exercise of powers conferred by the Order (article 9). The Order creates offences and provides penalties in respect of the obstruction of a British sea-fishery officer and makes provision in relation to offences committed by bodies corporate and Scottish partnerships and the admissibility of certain documents (articles 10, 11 and 12).

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 0.92.

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