UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 10(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Domestic Passenger Ships) (Safety Management Code) Regulations 2001

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

2 A person who—

a intentionally alters

a Domestic Ship Safety Management Certificate,

b in connection with any adult conducted in accordance with these Regulations knowingly or recklessly furnishes false information,

c with intent to deceive uses, lends or allows to be used by another,

a Domestic Ship Safety Management Certificate, or

d in Scotland forges any Domestic Ship Safety Management Certificate, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

2 years, or

a fine or both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally, knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly, with intent to).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, intentionally, with intent to, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 10(2)?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Merchant Shipping (Domestic Passenger Ships) (Safety Management Code) Regulations 2001.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
19 September 2001
In force from
1 November 2001
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 require passenger ships of Classes III to VI(A) (which are generally known as “small passenger ships”), operating within domestic waters, to develop and implement a Safety Management Code, the details of which are contained in Merchant Shipping Notice 1754(M). The Regulations provide in particular for the issue of Domestic Ship Safety Management Certificates by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (regulation 6), for the ship to be operated in accordance with the requirements of the Code by its owner, master and operator (regulations 5, 7, and 8), for enforcement (regulation 9), and for offences and penalties (regulation 10). The Regulations also make minor drafting corrections to the Merchant Shipping (ISM Code) (Ro-Ro Passenger Ferries) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/3022) and the Merchant Shipping (International Safety Management (ISM) Code) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/1561). A Regulatory Impact 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 Iforce, Delta House, Imber Court Business Park, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN (telephone 020 8957 5028).

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