UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 10(1)(a) of The Merchant Shipping (BCH Code) 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

a If there is a breach of regulation 3, 5(5), 6 or 9 then the owner and master of the ship shall each be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding £1,000, or, on indictment, by a fine;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 master 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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

fine not exceeding £1,000, or, on indictment, by a fine. 2 It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under these Regulations to prove that he took all reasonable steps to ensure that the regulations in question were complied with.

What would breach regulation 10(1)(a)?

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 Merchant Shipping (BCH Code) Regulations 1987, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
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
26 March 1987
In force from
6 April 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 Regulation) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations require chemical tankers which carry noxious liquid substances of Category A, B or C in bulk and which were built before 1st July 1986, to comply with the Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk which was adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization on 5th December 1985. The Regulations give effect to regulation 13(3) of Annex II to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as set out in the amendments to that Annex which were adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee on the same date as the Code. Annex II comes into force internationally on 6th April 1987. Copies of the Code as adopted, and of the earlier editions which are referred to in it, are obtainable from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

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”; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
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