UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 11(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) 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 If there is any contravention of regulation 5(2) or 9(3) in respect of

a ship, the owner shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 an owner 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 11(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. On these words an offence is committed where there is any contravention of regulation 5(2) or 9(3) in respect of a ship.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Regulations 1997, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
6 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 implement an International Agreement concluded in Stockholm on 27—28 February 1996 and entitled “Agreement Concerning Specific Stability Requirements for Ro-Ro Passenger Ships Undertaking Regular Scheduled International Voyages Between or to or from Designated Ports in North West Europe and the Baltic Sea”. The Regulations revoke the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) (No. 2) Regulations 1994 which implemented an earlier International Agreement dated 27th July 1993. The 1993 Agreement has been superseded by the Agreement implemented by these Regulations. The Regulations apply the requirements of the Agreement to all United Kingdom ro-ro passenger ships operating on regular scheduled voyages as ships of Classes I, II and II(A) and to all such non-United Kingdom ships when they are in United Kingdom waters while proceeding to or from a port in the United Kingdom (regulation 4). The Agreement is applied progressively to such ships between 1st April 1997 and 1st October 2002 in accordance with a timescale based on the A/Amax value for the ship (regulation 6). The Regulations require the calculation of an A/Amax value for each ship to be submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary of State, or to be approved by the Contracting Government to the Agreement whose flag the ship is entitled to fly (regulation 5). These Regulations amend the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) Regulations 1980 and the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984 to the extent that they apply to ro-ro passenger ships of Classes I, II and II(A). A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Marine Safety Agency, Department of Transport, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. The annex to the Calculation Procedure referred to in regulation 5(1) may be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Merchant Shipping Notices may be obtained from Eros Marketing Support Services, Unit B, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesley, Surrey KT8 0BN. These Regulations have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ 1983 L 109, p. 8) as amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC of 22 March 1988 (OJ 1988 L 81, p. 75) and European Parliament and Council Directive 94/10/EEC of 23 March 1994 (OJ 1994 L 100 p. 30).

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.

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