UK Offence Report

The Governor may make regulations for the prevention of pollution by noxious liquid substances (hereinafter…

paragraph 3 of SCHEDULE of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Hong Kong) 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

3 The Governor may make regulations for the prevention of pollution by noxious liquid substances (hereinafter referred to as “the Regulations”) for the purpose of giving effect to the said Annex II to the Convention, and the Regulations may in particular include provisions — a with respect to the approval of documents and the carrying out of surveys and inspections for that purpose, and for the issue, duration and recognition of certificates for that purpose and the payment of fees in connection with such a survey, inspection or certificate; b with respect to the application of the Regulations to the Crown and the extra-territorial operation of the Regulations; c for requiring the reporting of incidents involving pollution or the threat of pollution for the purpose of giving effect to the said Protocol I to the Convention as amended; d that specified contraventions of the Regulations shall be offences punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding 500,000 Hong Kong dollars and on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years and a fine; e for detaining any ship in respect of which such a contravention is suspected to have occurred and, in relation to such a ship, for applying section 692 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (which relates to the detection of a ship) with such modifications, if any, as are prescribed by the Regulations; and the Regulations may — i provide that the Regulations for the time being in force under Article 3(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Order 1987 as it applies in the United Kingdom shall, subject to such modifications (if any) as may be specified by the Governor be deemed to be Regulations made by the Governor under this Article; ii make different provisions for different circumstances; iii provide for exemptions from any provisions of the Regulations; iv provide for the delegation of functions exercisable by virtue of the Regulations; and v include such incidental, supplemental and transitional provisions as appear to the Governor to be expedient for the purposes of the Regulations.

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 paragraph 3 of SCHEDULE?

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 Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Hong Kong) Order 1987.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£500,000
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
7 April 1987
In force from
6 May 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 extends to Hong Kong certain provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Order 1987. Its main purpose is to give the Governor of Hong Kong power to make regulations to enable effect to be given in Hong Kong to Annex II to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 (Cmnd. 5748).

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 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 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