UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 11 of SCHEDULE 4 of The Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002 (revoked)

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

11 In relation to the requirement in paragraph 3.1 of regulation

26 with which the owner of

a ship is, under paragraph 9(c) of Schedule

3 to these Regulations, obliged to ensure compliance, any contravention in respect of the ship shall be an offence by the owner, punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
Conduct
breaching the provision
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 paragraph 11 of SCHEDULE 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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9559 — 09559 - Triable either way offences under Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
31 May 2002
In force from
1 July 2002
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 give effect to the provisions of Chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (SOLAS) as amended in accordance with its Protocol of 1988 and by IMO resolution MSC.99(73). The Regulations revoke a number of sets of Regulations and replace them with provision for ships to comply with various provisions in Chapter V. They also repeal provisions in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, so as to avoid duplication of provision. Some consequential amendments of other Regulations and of section 91(5) of the 1995 Act are also made. (Regulation 3 and Schedules 1 and 2). Supplementary provision on the safety of navigation requirements is made by regulation 6 and Schedule 3. The Regulations provide for the granting of exemptions and permission for equivalents (regulations 7 and 8), and the granting of approvals (regulation 9). The Regulations also provide for contravention of various requirements to be offences, and subject to criminal penalties (regulation 10 and Schedule 4). In cases of non-compliance a ship may be detained (regulation 11). 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 can be obtained from Marl Marketing (Scotland), Unit 6, Bloomsgrove Industrial Estate, Norton Street, Nottingham NG7 3JG (telephone 0115 901 3336; fax 0115 901 3334; e-mail orders mca@promo-solution.com). They may also be accessed via the MCA’s website http://www.mcga.gov.uk The MCA publication “Safety of Navigation—Implementing SOLAS V, 2002” can be obtained from The Stationery Office. A copy will also be available on the MCA’s Website, which the MCA intends to keep up to date with any amendments. Copies of the SOLAS Convention and its Protocols and amendments, and of IMO resolutions, may be obtained from the IMO at 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.88 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