UK Offence Report

Penalties.

regulation 7(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 If there is any contravention of regulation 5, the owner shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
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 an owner 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 7(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. On these words an offence is committed where there is any contravention of regulation 5.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Regulations 1994, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) (No. 2) Regulations 1994
Revoked on
19 May 1994
Made
25 February 1994
In force from
25 March 1994
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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement an international Agreement dated 27th July 1993, entitled “Agreement Concerning The Stability of Existing Ro-Ro Passenger Ships Operating Services To Or From Ports Within A Designated Sea Area Of North West Europe”. They extend to all ro-ro passenger ships built before 29th April 1990 the survivability standards required for passenger ships built on or after 29th April 1990. The extension takes effect between 1st October 1994 and 1st December 2004 or 2007 depending upon whether the ship is of one or two compartment standard of subdivision, in accordance with a timescale based on an A/Amax ratio calculation for each ship. The Regulations require the calculation of an A/Amax ratio for each ship to be submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary of State, or to be approved by the Maritime Administration party to the Agreement whose flag the ship is entitled to fly. The Regulations amend the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) Regulations 1980 and the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984 to the extent that they apply to ro-ro passenger ships of Classes I, II and IIA built before 29th April 1990. A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Survey General’s Organisation, Department of Transport, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO1 0ZD. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. The annex to the Calculation Procedure referred to in regulation 5(1) may be obtained from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Merchant Shipping Notices may be obtained from the Surveyor General’s Organisation, Department of Transport, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO1 0ZD, or any Department of Transport Marine Office.

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