UK Offence Report

2 If any requirement of regulation 7 is contravened, the owner and skipper of the vessel shall each be…

regulation 9(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Medical Stores) (Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1988

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 If any requirement of regulation

7 is contravened, the owner and skipper of the vessel shall each be guilty of an offence, punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding a £2,000 in the case of the owner; and b £1,000 in the case of the skipper.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 skipper
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 skipper 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 9(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Medical Stores) (Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1988, 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
£2,000
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
6 September 1988
In force from
1 November 1988
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 supersede the Merchant Shipping (Medical Scales) (Fishing Vessels) Regulations 1974. The Regulations apply to all fishing vessels registered in the UK and to unregistered fishing vessels owned by persons resident in or having a principal place of business in the United Kingdom. Every fishing vessel going to sea is required to carry medicines and other medical stores appropriate to the type and length of voyage and the geographical area into which it is proposed to proceed (Regulation 3). Other instruments and appliances already on board a vessel and having the same function as those prescribed by the Regulations may be treated as equivalent for as long as they remain in good serviceable condition. Where a vessel is on a voyage on the date on which these Regulations come into force it may use those medicines and medical stores already on board until it arrives at a United Kingdom port or within six months of these Regulations coming into force (Regulation 4). Medicines and medical stores are required to be of a certain standard (Regulation 5); this includes packaging and labelling (Regulation 6) and storage (Regulation 7). Medicines and medical stores are required to bear a label indicating the date after which the contents should not be used, medicines and medical stores shall be replaced as soon as possible after the expiry date and in any event within 3 months (Regulation 8). Contravention of the Regulations is made an offence by the owner and skipper, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding £2,000 in the case of the owner and £1,000 in the case of the skipper (Regulation 9). When an offence is committed due to the act or default of some other person that other person shall be guilty of an offence and may be convicted of the offence (Regulation 10). Any ship may be inspected and detained if the requirements of the Regulations are not met (Regulation 11). These new Regulations empower the Secretary of State to issue details of the stores to be carried in a Merchant Shipping Notice, rather than in the body of the Regulations as at present.

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