UK Offence Report

General duties of employees aboard ship

regulation 7(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1997 (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

2 If any employee aboard

a ship carrying dangerous goods fails to comply with paragraph (1) he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level three 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 person 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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 7(2)?

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 doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1997, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9186 — 09186 - Triable either way offences under Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1997. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
24 September 1997
In force from
1 November 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 revoke and replace the Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1990. The principal changes are: a The responsibilities formerly placed on the shipowner are now placed on the operator of the ship (who may include the owner, any charterer, manager and agent). b The Regulations implement Article 4 of Council Directive No. 93/75/EEC (O.J. No. 247, P19, 5–10–93) relating to vessels bound for or leaving community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods (regulations 10, 20 and 21). c The Regulations implement the 1991 Amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention 1974 (Solas) adopted by the Maritime Safety Committee by Resolution requiring a Document of Compliance and the 1994 Amendments adopted by Resolution MSC.42(64) (as amended), requiring an approved cargo securing manual from 1st January 1998 (regulations 18 and 19). d There are general duties to comply with the provisions of the IMDG Code. e The IMO Codes are generally updated to those currently in force. Copies of the Solas, its 1978 Protocol, and amendments, and of various Codes and the IMO Recommendations referred to in the Regulations are obtainable from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from Eros Marketing Support Services Ltd, Unit B, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesley, Surrey KT8 0BN. A copy of the compliance cost assessment for these Regulations can be obtained from the Marine Information Centre of the Marine Safety Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG.

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