UK Offence Report

1 A person who contravenes any provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

regulation 18(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Submersible Craft Operations) Regulations 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

1 A person who contravenes any provision of these Regulations 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 regulation 18(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes any provision of these Regulations.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Submersible Craft Operations) Regulations 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£2,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
26 February 1987
In force from
1 October 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations relate to the operation of manned submersible craft in United Kingdom waters, or elsewhere when the submersible craft is operated from, or comprises a United Kingdom ship. The Regulations impose operational safety requirements and provide for the reporting of casualties and other accidents which may occur in the course of such operations. The Regulations lay duties on the owner of the submersible craft relating to the provision of the necessary equipment and an Operations Manual detailing the procedures to be followed in submersible operations and on the master of the parent craft in ensuring that the operation is carried on from a safe place and in a safe manner. They provide for the appointment of an Operations Controller to exercise immediate control of the submersible operations, for ensuring the maintenance of log books, and for ensuring that the submersible pilot is familiar with the operational and emergency procedures and is fully briefed as to the mission and on the anticipated environmental conditions during the mission. The Regulations require the submersible craft pilot to be competent to command that particular type of submersible craft and that all the crew hold a current medical certificate. Requirements are laid down as to matters which are to be included in the operations manual and log books. They introduce requirements relating to casualties involving submersible craft and the powers conferred on the Secretary of State to direct an inspector to investigate such casualties.

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 0.92.

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