UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 10 of The Merchant Shipping (Radio and Radio-Navigational Equipment Survey) Regulations 1991

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

10 If a ship to which these Regulations apply proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea without the requirements of these Regulations having been complied with, the owner or master of the ship shall each be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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 10?

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 (Radio and Radio-Navigational Equipment Survey) Regulations 1991.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

this is the level 4 value when the instrument came into force (1991-07-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean £2500.

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 June 1991
In force from
1 July 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 replace the Merchant Shipping (Radio Installations Survey) Regulations 1981. They give effect to the provisions concerning surveys of radio equipment contained in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 as amended. They provide for surveys of radio equipment to be carried out by British Telecom surveyors, except in the case of radio-navigational equipment which may be carried out by Department of Transport surveyors. Surveys carried out abroad may also be carried out by surveyors appointed by the Secretary of State for the area in question or, in a State party to the Safety Convention, through the appropriate authority of that State.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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