UK Offence Report

2 Any person who, in the United Kingdom, lands any sole in contravention of article 1 of the Commission…

article 2(2) of The Sole (North Sea) (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 1987

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 Any person who, in the United Kingdom, lands any sole in contravention of article

1 of the Commission Regulation shall 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
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 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 2(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person lands any sole in contravention of article 1 of the Commission Regulation.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Sole (North Sea) (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 1987, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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
15 February 1987
In force from
18 February 1987
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 the prohibition on retaining on board or landing more than 30 per cent of sole (Solea solea) taken in the North Sea, measured as a percentage by weight of the total catch of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, contained in article 1 of the Regulation adopted by the Commission of the European Communities on 6th February 1987 establishing temporary limits on landings of sole from the North Sea (“the Commission Regulation”). Article 2 of the Order creates offences in respect of breaches of the provisions of article 1 of the Commission Regulation. Penalties, which may include the forfeiture of fish, nets and other fishing gear are specified for such offences (article 3). A provision corresponding to section 12 of the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 (c. 77) is made for the enforcement of fines by way of the issue of a warrant of distress (in Scotland a warrant of poinding and sale) and a detaining Order (article 4). The Order confers powers of enforcement on British sea-fishery officers (article 5), and provision is made for the punishment of anyone found guilty of obstructing or assaulting such an officer (article 6). The Order ceases to have effect on 16th April 1987 (article 1).

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