UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 16 of The Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) 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

16 Any owner or master who fails without reasonable cause to deliver up

a certificate for cancellation as required by regulations 10(1) or 14(9) shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
breaching the provision
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 16?

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 a master fails without reasonable cause to deliver up a certificate for cancellation as required by regulations 10(1) or 14(9).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Regulations 1997.

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
7 June 1997
In force from
11 July 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 consolidate with amendments the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Regulations 1982, as amended. The Regulations re-enact those provisions of the earlier Regulations relating to the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships 1969 (Cmnd. 4332) (Part II), and the calculation of tonnage for pleasure vessels of less than 13.7 metres in length (Part III). The Regulations simplify the earlier tonnage requirements for ships of less than 24 metres in length by adopting a method of tonnage computation, previously restricted to those pleasure vessels of less than 13.7 metres in length, for all ships under 24 metres in length other than fishing vessels. The Regulations deal with the tonnage computation of segregated ballast oil tankers, and with the use of gross tonnage which has been ascertained under previous Regulations. The Regulations enable the Secretary of State to authorise persons to act as Certifying Authorities for the purpose of the Regulations. Currently so authorised are Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, the British Committee of Bureau Veritas, the British Committee of Det Norske Veritas, the British Committee of Germanischer Lloyd: the British Committee of Registro Italiano Navale and the British Technical Committee of the American Bureau of Shipping. The Conventions and Protocols referred to in the Regulations may be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 75R.

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”; 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