UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 73(4) of The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes III to VI (A)) Regulations 1998

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 Any person who fails to carry out an inspection which he has been appointed by the master to carry out under regulation 18(2) or (3) 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 regulation 73(4)?

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 person fails to carry out an inspection which he has been appointed by the master to carry out under regulation 18(2) or (3).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes III to VI (A)) Regulations 1998, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
8 October 1998
In force from
12 November 1998
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 replace the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) Regulations 1980 and the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984, and their amendments, so far as they related to ships of Classes III to VI(A). They also replace a number of other Regulations relating to the Construction of Passenger Ships. They implement in part EC Directive 94/57/EC (common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisation and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations (regulation 5). The Regulations contain requirements for ships of Classes III to VI(A) of all dates of construction. A number of details of technical requirements are now contained in a Merchant Shipping Notice. The principal changes from previous Regulations are— revised requirements as to sounding pipes and gauges to tanks containing petrol, lubricating oil and some inflammable oil; and the scanning of high pressure fuel delivery lines; implementation in part of EC Directive 94/57/EC with respect to approved standards (regulation 5). 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. A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Merchant Shipping Notices are obtainable from EROS Marketing Support Services, Delta House, the Imber Court Business Park, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN (Telephone number 0181 957 5028). British or International Standards are obtainable from the British Standards Institution, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL and the Institute of Electrical Engineers Regulations from the Institute at Savoy Place, London WC2.

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