UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Regulations 1997

the instrument as a whole of The Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) 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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 85(5)-(7) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Regulations 1997.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 85(5)-(7) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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

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
4 March 1997
In force from
1 April 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 (Light Dues) Regulations 1990 as amended. The Regulations make the following reductions to the amount of light dues which may be levied: Description Previous amount New amount Annual payment per ship for tugs and registered fishing vessels £212 £202 Payment for each metre of length in excess of 10 metres for tugs and registered fishing vessels £22 £21 Two equal payments per ship for tugs and registered fishing vessels £119 £114 Payment for each metre of length in excess of 10 metres length for tugs and registered fishing vessels £12.50 £12 Minimum annual payment for a new or newly registered tug or fishing vessel £62 £60 Minimum annual payment for a tug or registered fishing vessel which is not registered for a continuous period of more than three months. £62 £60 Annual payment for pleasure vessels £81 £77 Payment for each period of 30 days in respect of a visit within an area for which any general lighthouse authority has responsibility for a pleasure vessel not ordinarily kept or used in such an area £27 £26 Amount for each month or part of month for a new or newly registered pleasure vessel £27 £26 Minimum amount per voyage for ships not subject to periodical payments £62 £60 Rate per ton for ships subject to payments per voyage 43 pence 41 pence In addition, the Regulations also make the following amendments: a A ship’s tonnage is to be ascertained by reference to its International Tonnage Certificate (1969) or, if the ship does not have such a certificate, by reference to the ship’s gross tonnage. b The exemption in favour of ships navigating wholly within the limits of a harbour authority has been modified except in relation to the Port of London Authority and the Forth Port Authority. c Additional exemptions have been granted for various classes of ships.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.63.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.63 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