UK Offence Report

Transportation of northern hake

article 5 of The Sea Fishing (Northern Hake Stock) (Scotland) Order 2006

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

5 Where any quantities of northern hake are transported in contravention of Article 12(2) of Regulation 811/2004 (transport), the owner or hirer of, and the person responsible for, the vehicle used to transport the northern hake 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
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 an owner 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 5?

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 (Northern Hake Stock) (Scotland) Order 2006, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown 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
11 October 2006
In force from
14 November 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 note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order provides for the enforcement in Scotland of the monitoring, inspection and surveillance provisions in Council Regulation 811/2004 (“the Council Regulation”) which establishes a recovery plan for the northern hake stock which inhabits the hake recovery zone as defined in Article 1 of the Council Regulation. The Order creates offences in respect of contraventions by certain persons of provisions of the Council Regulation concerning recording and accounting of time spent in the hake recovery zone, mixing of species, transportation of northern hake, the landing of northern hake where prior notification is required, the landing of northern hake at a designated port and the recording of information on catches of fish (articles 3 to 8). By virtue of article 7(4) the ports named in the Schedule to the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order 2006 are designated for the purposes of Article 9 of the Council Regulation. The Order makes a minor amendment to the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) (Scotland) Order 2006 (article 9). The Order provides for penalties (article 10) and for the recovery of fines imposed in respect of a relevant offence as defined in the Order (article 11). For the purposes of enforcing articles 3 to 8 of the Order powers are conferred on British sea fishery officers 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 12 to 14). Provision is made for the protection of British sea-fishery officers in the exercise of their powers under the Order (article 15) and for an offence of obstructing such officers (article 16). Provision is made in relation to offences committed by a body corporate, a partnership or an unincorporated association (article 17) and in relation to the admissibility in evidence of logbooks and other documents (article 18). A Regulatory Impact Assessment in the relation to this Order has been prepared and placed in SPICE. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY.

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