UK Offence Report

4 It is an offence for a person to import fishery products obtained from IUU fishing.

article 9(4) of The Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) (Scotland) Order 2013

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 It is an offence for

a person to import fishery products obtained from IUU fishing.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
importing or exporting without authority
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 9(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 it is an offence to import fishery products obtained from IUU fishing.
  2. Moving the goods across the border under the Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) (Scotland) Order 2013 without the licence the instrument requires.
  3. Holding a licence for one consignment and using it for another.
  4. Sending goods in transit through the United Kingdom, where the provision catches transit as well as import and export.

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.

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
30 May 2013
In force from
29 June 2013
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 makes provision for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 (OJ L 286, 29.10.2008, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1010/2009 (OJ L 280, 27.10.2009, p.5) (“the Commission Regulation”) establishing restrictions and obligations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This Order applies to Scottish fishing boats, wherever they are, and to other fishing boats within the Scottish zone (article 1). Article 3(1) designates the Scottish Ministers as the competent authority for the purposes of the Council and the Commission Regulations. Article 3(2) also designates the local authority as the competent authority for the purposes of the provisions of the Council and the Commission Regulations referred to in article 3(3) relating to the checking of catch certificates and subsequent verifications and refusal of importation etc. 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 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. Article 6(2) and (3) provides for the seizure and sale, disposal or destruction of fishery products upon refusal of importation in the circumstances set out in Article 18(1) or (2) of the Council Regulation. Article 7 provides for a right of appeal to the sheriff in circumstances where importation or permission to use transhipment facilities is refused or the competent authority seizes the fishery products or decides to sell, dispose of or destroy the fishery products. Article 8 provides that the local authority may charge a fee in respect of each consignment reflecting the recovery of expenses it has reasonably incurred. The powers in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 are exercised as regards this Article. Article 9 provides that certain activities are an offence which are punishable either by a summary conviction or on indictment. Article 10 provides penalties for the offences under the Order and an equivalent provision (as defined in the Order). Article 11 provides powers for the sheriff court in the recovery of fines imposed in respect of an offence under this Order or under an equivalent provision. Articles 12 to 15 provide for powers of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order or an equivalent provision. Article 16 provides protection from civil or criminal liability to authorised officers, British sea-fishery officers and persons assisting British sea-fishery officers when exercising powers under certain specified provisions of the Order or in carrying out checks and verifications under the Council Regulation or the Commission Regulation under certain circumstances. Article 17 provides that a person commits an offence if that person obstructs such authorised officers, British sea-fishery officers or persons assisting British sea-fishery officers in the exercise of their powers conferred by the Order. Articles 18 to 21 make provision about offences committed by bodies corporate, exchange of information, obtaining samples and admissibility of documents in evidence. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to this Order has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Government Marine Directorate, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.

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