UK Offence Report

1 Where there is, in respect of— a any British fishing boat wherever it may be; or b any other fishing boat…

article 3(1) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1993

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 Where there is, in respect of—

a any British fishing boat wherever it may be; or

b any other fishing boat which is within British fishery limits,

a contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provision of the Council Regulation or second Commission Regulation specified in Schedule 1, as read with any qualifying words relating thereto in that Schedule, the master, owner, charterer (if any) and any other person responsible for the vessel, shall each be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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; 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 article 3(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1993, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1994
Revoked on
22 March 1994
Made
10 August 1993
In force from
1 September 1993
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order consolidates with amendments the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Control Measures) Order 1985, as amended, (“the 1985 Order”) which made provision for the enforcement of certain of the enforceable Community restrictions and other obligationsrelating to sea fishing set out in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2241/87 establishingcertain control measures for fishing activities (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2807/83 laying down detailed rules for recording information onMember States' catches of fish (“the first Commission Regulation”). The relevant provisions of the Council Regulation— a require co-operation in facilitating inspections and require masters to permit theverification of information relating to trans-shipments (articles 2(2) and 7(2),fourth sub-paragraph); b require masters to keep logbooks (ie records of their operations) when fishing for stocks subject to total allowable catches (article 5); c require masters to make declarations to the authorities of Member States relating to catches landed or trans-shipped (articles 6, 7 and 8); d prohibit the retention on board, trans-shipment, landing, arranging for trans-shipment or arranging for landing of catches taken after the date on which a quotaallocated to a Member State is deemed to have been exhausted (third sub-paragraph of article 11(3)); e require nets to be stowed in certain circumstances (article 13). The relevant provisions of the first Commission Regulation— a impose detailed requirements for keeping a logbook (article 1 and Annexes I, II,IV, V, VI and VII); b impose detailed requirements for making a landing declaration and a trans-shipment declaration (article 2 and Annexes I, III, IV and V); c impose detailed requirements for the submission of information (article 3 andAnnex VIII). This Order amends the definition of “the Council Regulation” so as to incorporate withinthat definition the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3483/88 amending Regulation (EEC) No. 2241/87 (article 2). The relevant provisions of the amending Regulation prohibit the landing and trans-shipment of fish without a licence or certified document incertain circumstances (articles 11a(2) and 11b(2) of the Council Regulation). The Order also provides for the enforcement of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 1382/87 establishing detailed rules concerning the inspection of fishing vessels (“the second Commission Regulation”). The relevant provisions of the second Commission Regulation— a require the provision of a boarding ladder (article 3(2) and Annex II); and b require masters of inspected vessels to make communications equipment and operators available to an inspector (article 3(3)). For the purpose of enforcing the Council and Commission Regulations this Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8). The powers to search for and to seize documents are subject, in the case of premises on land, to the officer obtaining a warrant from a justice of the peace, sheriff or stipendiary magistrate (article 7(2) and (3)). Provision is also made for the prosecution of offenders and for the punishment of anyone found guilty of furnishing false information or obstructing a British sea-fishery officer (articles 3 and 10). The maximum penalties specified for such offences, and for offences relating to the provisions of the Council and Commission Regulations correspond, in the case of offences equivalent to those under the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 (c. 84), and the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 (c. 77), both as amended by the Fisheries Act 1981, to the penalties imposed for such offences by those Acts (articles 4 and 10). The Order provides powers for the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrates' court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, or in Scotland by a sheriff (article 5). The Order revokes the 1985 Order together with the Orders which amended it (article 13).

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”
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