UK Offence Report

Issue of certificate by Governor.

paragraph 164(4) of SCHEDULE TO THE ORDER of The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution)(Pitcairn) Order 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

4 If a person required by regulations under subsection (3) above to deliver up a certificate fails to do so he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2,500, or its equivalent in local currency.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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.

What would breach paragraph 164(4) of SCHEDULE TO THE ORDER?

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 (Oil Pollution)(Pitcairn) Order 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
£2,500
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
30 October 1997
In force from
30 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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (CLC), which was extended to the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands by Schedule 2 to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) (Overseas Territories) Order 1975, provides uniform rules and procedures for determining questions of liability and for awarding compensation when damage is caused by pollution resulting from the escape or discharge of oil from ships. The International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971 (the Fund Convention), which was extended to the Islands by Schedule 3 to the 1975 Order, set up an international fund to provide a supplementary system for compensation and indemnification for such damage. The 1992 Protocol to the CLC and the 1992 Protocol to the Fund Convention respectively create a new 1992 Civil Liability Convention and a 1992 Fund Convention, which together provide for higher levels of compensation and more extensive liability. The 1992 Protocols are given effect in the United Kingdom by Part VI, Chapters III and IV of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. This Order extends those provisions of the 1995 Act to Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands with the necessary exceptions, adaptations and modifications.

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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 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