UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 14(4) of The Merchant Shipping (High-Speed Craft) 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

4 Any contravention of regulation 13, being an offence corresponding to the offence under section 283 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, shall be an offence by both the owner and master and shall be punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, on conviction on indictment, by 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

nt for a term not exceeding two years or a fine, or both. 5 It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under these Regulations to prove that he took all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with the Regulations.

What would breach regulation 14(4)?

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 (High-Speed Craft) Regulations 1996, 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
Maximum prison (on indictment)
6 months

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
19 December 1996
In force from
1 February 1997
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 the International Code of Safety for High-Speed Craft, made mandatory by Chapter X of the Annex to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention 1974. Chapter X was adopted by resolution MSC.36(63) of the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization on 20th May 1994. The Regulations require high speed craft, constructed after 1st January 1996 (and falling within with regulation 3(1)(b) to (e)) to be constructed, equipped, maintained and operated in accordance with the Code (regulation 4(1)). Provisions are made for surveys (regulation 5), and for the issue of High-Speed Craft Safety Certificates and Permits to Operate (regulations 6 to 11). The Regulations also require compliance with certain rules of classification societies, thus implementing in part Article 14 of Council Directive 94/57/EC on common rules and standards of ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations (regulation 4(2)). The Regulations amend a number of other merchant shipping regulations so that they cease to apply to high-speed craft (regulation 17). A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Marine Safety Agency, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from Eros Marketing Support Services Ltd, Unit B, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN (Telephone number 0181 957 5028). The High-Speed Craft Code (Sales No. IMO-187E) and the 1974 SOLAS Convention are obtainable from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.88 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