UK Offence Report

5 If a pilot contravenes the provisions of regulation 13 or 14 above, he shall be guilty of an offence and…

regulation 15(5) of The Merchant Shipping (Reporting Requirements for Ships Carrying Dangerous or Polluting Goods) Regulations 1995 (revoked)

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

5 If a pilot contravenes the provisions of regulation 13 or 14 above, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 pilot
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 pilot 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 15(5)?

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 (Reporting Requirements for Ships Carrying Dangerous or Polluting Goods) Regulations 1995, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
21 September 1995
In force from
31 October 1995
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 implement (inter alia) Council Directive No. 93/75/EEC relating to vessels bound for or leaving community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods. They are intended to ensure that member States will have ready access to information about any dangerous or polluting goods aboard ships bound for or leaving their ports. Earlier and more limited EC requirements on reporting contained in the Merchant Shipping (Tankers) (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1981 as amended, are revoked. The Regulations also revoke and re-enact the Merchant Shipping (Reporting Requirements For Ships Carrying Dangerous or Polluting Goods) Regulations 1994, which implemented similar requirements in the Safety of Life at Sea Convention 1974 (SOLAS), as amended, and the Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 (MARPOL), as amended. They require the operator of a ship departing from a port to inform the competent authority of that port about the nature, quantity and location of any dangerous goods aboard, its destination and intended route (regulation 5). Ferries on short sea voyages of less than one hour are exempt from this requirement, provided that the operator of the ferry can supply this information to the competent authority immediately on request (regulation 5(3)). For a ship departing from a port outside the Community and bound for a Community port, this information is also required to be lodged with the competent authority of the member State of the first port of call within the Community (regulation 6). The Coastguard Agency of the Department of Transport, is designated as the competent authority for the United Kingdom (regulation 4). The Regulations also require masters to provide details of the ship, its equipment, crew and survey certificates to a pilot, or the competent authority on demand (regulation 12). If a ship finds itself in difficulty, or is involved in an incident which is likely to pose a threat to any member State’s coastline or related interests the master is immediately required to provide information about the cargo aboard to the competent authority of the State concerned (regulations 9 (1) (d), (3) and (4) and 10 and 11). These Regulations also implement the requirements in SOLAS and MARPOL to report the loss or likely loss of dangerous and polluting goods to the nearest coastal state wherever such incidents occur (regulations 9 (1) (a)-(c), (3) and (4) and 10 and 11). The Regulations permit the master to discharge this obligation by indicating which competent authority in the Community holds the information (regulation 9 (2)). A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and is available from the Marine Safety Agency, Department of Transport, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton S01 OZD. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies of the IBC, IGC and IMDG Codes, and of MARPOL and SOLAS and amendments are obtainable from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from the Marine Safety Agency Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG, and from any Marine Office of the Marine Safety Agency.

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