UK Offence Report

Revocations and savings

regulation 8(2) of The Fisheries (Technical Conservation Measures) (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2020

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 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the instruments referred to in that paragraph continue to have effect for the purposes of any investigation or legal proceedings relating to any acts or omissions which occurred before

21 December 2020 and constitute an offence under any of those instruments.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Fisheries (Technical Conservation Measures) (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2020.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
10 November 2020
In force from
Not determined
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (c.68) and paragraph 1(1) and (3) of schedule 2 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c.16). These Regulations make miscellaneous amendments to legislation concerning technical conservation measures for sea fisheries to reflect the coming into force of Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L 198, 25.7.2019, p.105) (“the Technical Conservation Regulation”) and the consequential repeal and amendment of other EU instruments. These Regulations also address failures of retained EU law to operate effectively and other deficiencies (in particular under section 8(2)(a) of the 2018 Act) arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Regulations 2 to 6 make minor amendments to the following subordinate legislation to replace, amend or remove out of date references to, and in respect of, Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 (OJ No. L 125, 27.4.1998, p.1): the Sea Fish (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) (Scotland) Order 2000; the Sea Fish (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2001; the Shrimp Fishing Nets (Scotland) Order 2004; the Regulation of Scallop Fishing (Scotland) Order 2017; and the Prohibition of Fishing with Multiple Trawls (Scotland) Order 2017. In addition, regulations 2 and 4 amend the definition of “codend” to have the same the meaning as in the Technical Conservation Regulation. Regulations 2 and 4 also revoke redundant powers of British sea-fishery officers, which are now provided for by the common enforcement powers in section 35(1) of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 (asp 7). Regulation 6 also amends the minimum mesh size requirement for fishing for redfish with trawls in the area described in the first sub-paragraph of paragraph 1(1) of Part C of Annex 12 of the Technical Conservation Regulation. Regulation 7 revokes provisions in the Fisheries (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 which are redundant as a result of these Regulations. Regulation 8 revokes subordinate legislation which is now redundant and makes saving provision. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact upon business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.

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 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 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