UK Offence Report

Misconduct endangering the ship or persons aboard ship

regulation 5(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1990

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 person in

a ship carrying dangerous goods fails to comply with any of the provisions of this regulation he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level four on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 5(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1990, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
19 December 1990
In force from
1 January 1991
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 revoke the Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 1981 as amended and re-enact those provisions subject to certain changes. The Regulations so far as they relate to dangerous goods are made under section 21 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979, and give effect to Chapter VII (Carriage of Dangerous Goods) of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (Cmnd. 7874) which was laid before Parliament in October 1978 and ratified by the United Kingdom in November 1979, as amended in 1981, 1983, 1988 and 1989. So far as they relate to marine pollutants the Regulations are made under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Order 1990 and give effect to the provisions of Annex III to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships signed 2nd November 1973. The principal changes from the previous Dangerous Goods Regulations are:— 1 that the Regulations will cease to refer to the Blue Book (the Report of the Department of Transport Standing Advisory Committee), and will instead refer to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, 1990 edition (“IMDG Code”); 2 so far as packaged goods are concerned, the Regulations cover both dangerous goods and marine pollutants, both of which are now covered by the IMDG Code. There is an additional requirement for packaging to be in accordance with the IMDG Code; 3 there will be an additional requirement for shipowners to retain marine pollutant manifests and stowage plans ashore until those goods have been discharged from the ship. The Regulations make consequential changes to the Dangerous Substances in Harbour Areas Regulations 1987. Copies of the various Codes referred to in the Regulations are obtainable from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Copies of the United Nations Publication entitled “Recommendations on the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods” are obtainable from bookshops or distributors. Amendments to the Codes referred to in the Regulations are specified by the Secretary of State in Merchant Shipping Notices. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from the Department of Transport Marine Library, Sunley House, 90 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LP and from any Department of Transport Marine Office.

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.

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”
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