UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 17(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Hours of Work and Watchkeeping) Regulations 1997

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 Any company which contravenes regulation 4(2) or (4), 5(1) or (3), 9(1), (2), (8) or (10) or

14 shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or on indictment by

a fine, or (in the case of an individual) by imprisonment not exceeding

6 months, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a company
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 a company 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

on to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale. 9 It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under these Regulations to prove that he took all reasonable steps to avoid commission of the offence. 10 In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations consisting of a failure to comply with a duty or requirement to do something so far as is reasonably practicable, it shall be fo

What would breach regulation 17(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 Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Hours of Work and Watchkeeping) Regulations 1997, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ 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
19 May 1997
In force from
20 June 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 Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers', 1978, as amended on 7th July 1995. The Regulations revoke the Merchant Shipping (Certification and Watchkeeping) Regulations 1982, the Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning Document) Regulations 1992 and the Merchant Shipping (Hours of Work) Regulations 1995 (regulation 1). The Regulations define the responsibility of owners and others responsible for the operation of ships in relation to the certification and training of the seamen working on their ships, the availability of relevant documentation and the provision of instructions on familiarisation of seamen who are newly-appointed to their ships (regulation 4). Provision is made for ships to carry Safe Manning Documents, and for submitting proposals for the manning of their ships to the Marine Safety Agency (regulation 5). The Merchant Shipping (Hours of Work) Regulations 1995 are re-enacted with amendments to bring them into line with the revised STCW Convention (regulations 6 to 10). The major amendments are:— a an increase in the minimum hours of rest from seven to 10 in any 24-hour period (with the possibility of the 10 being reduced to six for no more than two days); b replacement of the alternative requirement of a minimum of 16 hours of rest in any 48-hour period by not less than 70 hours in each seven-day period. Provision is made requiring the master to ensure that watchkeeping arrangements on the ship both at sea and in port are adequate and take account of the relevant parts of the STCW Code which is annexed to the revised STCW Convention and any guidance issued by the Secretary of State (regulations 11 to 13). Other provisions deal with the carriage of documents on board ship (regulation 14), the inspection of non-UK ships (regulation 15) and the power to detain ships which are found to be in contravention of the Regulations (regulation 16). The penalties for contravening the Regulations are prescribed (regulation 17). There is a provision for the Secretary of State to grant exemptions, with conditions which he may specify, from all or any of the provisions of these Regulations (regulation 18). The Merchant Shipping Notices setting out the matters specified by the Secretary of State under these Regulations are obtainable from Eros Marketing Support Services, Unit B, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN. Copies of the revised STCW Convention and the STCW Code annexed to it are obtainable from the International Maritime Organisation, 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
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