UK Offence Report

If a master fails to report a danger to navigation as required by these Regulations, he shall be guilty of…

regulation 3(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings)Regulations 1996

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

1 If a master fails to report a danger to navigation as required by these Regulations, he 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a master
Conduct
failing to notify or register
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 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. Not telling the authority about an event the instrument makes notifiable under the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings)Regulations 1996, or telling them after the period allowed has run out.
  2. Assuming a notification made for another purpose, or by somebody else, satisfies this requirement.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
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
11 July 1996
In force from
8 August 1996
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 give effect to certain provisions of Chapter V of the Safety of Life At Sea Convention, 1974. They require the master of every United Kingdom ship to send warnings of navigational hazards encountered. The Regulations replace the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Regulations 1980, as amended. The warnings to be sent of certain hazards to navigation are now to be specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice, firstly Merchant Shipping Notice No. M. 1641/NW1. No substantive changes are made. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from Eros Marketing Support Services Ltd, Unit B, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesley, Surrey KT8 0BN. Radio Regulations are obtainable from the International Telecommunication Union, Place Des Nations, CH-1211 Geneve 20, Switzerland. The International Code of Signals is obtainable from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. The Admiralty List of Radio Signals is obtainable from branded Admiralty distributors as listed in the Catalogue of Admiralty Charts and Other Hydrographic Publications (available from the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty Way, Taunton, Somerset TA1 2DN).

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