UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 29(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk) 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 If any ship fails to comply with any of the requirements of these Regulations 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 conviction 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 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 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 29(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. Being served with a notice under the Merchant Shipping (Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk) Regulations 1987 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, with the Merchant Shipping IBC Code Regulations 1987 and the Merchant Shipping BCH Code Regulations 1987, give effect to Annex II to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended by the Protocol of 1978 thereto and as further amended by the amendments thereto adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (the MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization on December 5th 1985. The Regulations apply to ships carrying noxious liquid substances in bulk. They apply to United Kingdom ships wherever they may be and to other ships when they are in United Kingdom waters. Noxious liquid substances are divided into four categories, A, B, C and D, in accordance with the severity of the hazard which they present to human health and the marine environment, Category A presenting the worst hazard and Category D the least. Discharges into the sea of noxious liquid substances or mixtures containing them are prohibited; and discharges into the sea of liquid wastes containing residues of such substances are strictly controlled (Regulations 3, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13). The worse the hazard which the category of substances presents, the stricter are the controls. Controls are also more stringent in two special areas, namely the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Regulations also prohibit (regulation 14) the discharge of liquid substances which, though not identified as noxious, have not been evaluated and found to be harmless to the marine environment, except with written permission from the government of the state or states concerned. The Regulations require ships to follow specified procedures when washing cargo tanks (regulations 4 and 8 to 10). The procedures depend on the category of substance carried and on whether or not unloading takes place in a special area. Certain oil-like substances are allowed to be carried and their residues discharged in accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1983 instead of in accordance with these Regulations, provided (a) that the ship meets extra stability requirements and (b) that its International Prevention of Oil Pollution Certificate is endorsed to indicate the ship’s conformity with relevant requirements of these Regulations (regulation 18). All ships are required to carry a Procedures and Arrangements Manual complying with the Standards for Procedures and Arrangements adopted by the MEPC (regulation 19), and to be provided with the equipment and arrangements specified in that manual (regulation 22). They are also required to carry a Cargo Record Book in which operations involving cargoes of noxious liquid substances have to be recorded (regulation 20). Every tank designated to carry a Category B or C substance is required to have a pumping system capable of emptying the tank so that the residues remaining after unloading is complete do not exceed, in the case of a new ship, 0.1m3 for a Category B and 0.3m3 for a Category C substance and, in the case of an existing ship, 0.3m3 for a Category B and 0.9m3 for a Category C substance (regulation 21). Ships are required to be surveyed for the purposes of the regulations, to carry an International Pollution Prevention Certificate for the Carriage of Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk and to be maintained in accordance with that certificate (regulations 23—25). Carriage of noxious or unassessed liquid substances in bulk is prohibited except where the ship has the appropriate certificate (regulation 28). Penalties are prescribed for breaches of the regulations and provision is made for ships to be detained where a breach occurs (regulations 29 and 30). Copies of the Convention and Codes referred to in the regulations are obtainable from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE17SR.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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