UK Offence Report

3 Where, in respect of— a any Scottish fishing boat wherever it may be; or b any relevant British fishing…

article 13(3) of The Sea Fishing (North-East Atlantic Control Measures) Order 2000

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

3 Where, in respect of—

a any Scottish fishing boat wherever it may be; or

b any relevant British fishing boat or foreign fishing boat which is within the Scottish zone, any person—

i moves, removes or interferes with an identification mark affixed to any part of fishing gear in accordance with Article 16.1(b); or

ii fails to comply with

a requirement imposed by the competent authorities in the United Kingdom, or

a duly authorised officer, to proceed to

a designated port under Article 19.4, of the Council Regulation, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

What would breach article 13(3)?

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. Being served with a notice under the Sea Fishing (North-East Atlantic Control Measures) Order 2000 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£50,000
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
13 July 2000
In force from
24 July 2000
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.

This Order makes provision for the enforcement of restrictions and obligations contained in Council Regulation (EC) No. 2791/99 (OJ No. L337, 30.12.99, p.1), for laying down certain control measures applicable in the area covered by the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in the North-East Atlantic fisheries (“the Council Regulation”). The Council Regulation in particular implements two recommendations of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission establishing a scheme of control and enforcement applicable to fishing vessels in the Regulatory Area. The Regulatory Area referred to in the Order is defined in Article 2.1 of the Council Regulation as “those waters of the Convention Areas as defined in Article 1(1) of the . . . Convention [on future multilateral cooperation in the North-East Atlantic fisheries (“the NEAFC Convention”)], which lie beyond the waters under the jurisdiction of NEAFC Contracting Parties”. Article 1(1) of the NEAFC Convention defines the Convention Areas as: the waters: within those parts of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and their dependent seas which lie north of 36° north latitude and between 42° west longitude and 51° east longitude, but excluding: the Baltic Sea and the Belts lying to the south and east of lines drawn from Hasenore Head to Gniben Point, from Korshage to Spodsbierg and from Gilbierg Head to the Kullen, and the Mediterranean Sea and its dependent seas as far as the point of intersection of the parallel of 36° latitude and the meridian of 5° 36' west longitude, within that part of the Atlantic Ocean north of 59° north latitude and between 44° west longitude and 42° west longitude. Part I of the Order (articles 1 to 3) extends to the whole of the United Kingdom; Part II of the Order (articles 4 to 12) extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland only; and Part III of the Order (articles 13 to 21) extends to Scotland only (article 1). Articles 4 and 13 of the Order create offences in respect of: breaches of the provisions of the Council Regulation referred to in column 1 (and briefly described in column 2) of the Schedule to the Order and the provisions of the Council Regulation referred to in paragraphs (2) and (3) of those articles; and, in relation to non-Contracting Party vessels, transhipments to Community fishing vessels and breaches of notices served on non-Contracting Party vessels prohibiting landing or transhipment (paragraphs 4(4) and 13(4)). Penalties, which may include the forfeiture of fish, nets and other fishing gear, are specified for such offences (articles 5 and 14). The statutory maximum penalty referred to in the Order is currently £5,000. The Order confers power on the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Scottish Ministers to assign British sea-fishery officers to be NEAFC inspectors (article 3). The Order also confers powers of enforcement on: NEAFC inspectors in respect of relevant British fishing boats and Scottish fishing boats in the Regulatory Area; British sea-fishery officers who are NEAFC inspectors in respect of foreign fishing boats, flying the flag of a state which is a Member State of the European Community or a Contracting Party to the NEAFC Convention, in the Regulatory Area; and British sea-fishery officers in respect of relevant British fishing boats or Scottish fishing boats wherever they may be and other fishing boats which are within relevant British fishery limits or the Scottish zone (articles 7 and 16). Powers to seize fish and fishing gear are also conferred on British sea-fishery officers in respect of relevant British fishing boats or Scottish fishing boats wherever they may be and other fishing boats which are within relevant British fishery limits or the Scottish zone (articles 8 and 17). Provision is made for the punishment of anyone found guilty of obstructing or assaulting a British sea-fishery officer (articles 10 and 19). The Order provides powers for the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrates' court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (article 6) or by a court in Scotland (article 15). Articles 9, 11, 12, 18, 20 and 21 contain ancillary provisions.

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