UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 18(2) of The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003

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 Any master who fails to comply with— a any requirement of regulation 11(2), (3), (5) or (6); b the requirement under regulation 12(1); c any direction given under regulation 12(3); or d the requirement under regulation 16(1), shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment to a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 master 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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

5 In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the defendant to show that all reasonable steps had been taken by him to avoid committing the offence.

What would breach regulation 18(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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. 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
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
14 July 2003
In force from
15 July 2003
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 revoke and replace with amendments the Merchant Shipping (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 1997, and give effect to Directive 2000/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. L 332, 28.12.2000, p.81), as amended by Directive 2002/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. L 324, 29.11.2002, p.53). In addition to minor amendments, the significant differences are in the inclusion of (i) a duty to deliver waste to reception facilities in the harbour or terminal, (ii) a requirement to notify the harbour or terminal in advance of a ship’s arrival, and (iii) a duty for harbour authorities and terminal operators to impose charges to cover the costs of waste reception facilities for ship-generated waste. The Regulations are made under sections 130A to 130D of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, except in so far as they relate to the requirement to provide information to a harbour or terminal in advance of a ship’s arrival, the requirement on harbour authorities and terminal operators to charge for reception facilities and the application of the Regulations to hovercraft, where the power is provided by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. Regulation 4 requires all harbour authorities and terminal operators to provide waste reception facilities which are adequate to deal with waste of types covered by the Regulations from ships normally using the harbour or terminal. Regulations 5 to 8 are concerned with waste management plans for harbours and terminals; such plans are to be prepared and submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval. A harbour authority (or terminal operator, where the operator has prepared the plan) is required to implement an approved plan. There are direction-making and default powers for the Secretary of State in regulations 5, 9 and 10. Regulation 11 contains a requirement for the master of a ship bound for a harbour (or terminal, where the waste management plan so provides) to provide the harbour authority or terminal operator (as the case may be) with information concerning waste, including the quantities of waste to be delivered and the waste-storage capacity of the ship. Regulations 12 and 16 require ship-generated waste and cargo residues, respectively, to be delivered to a waste reception facility; regulations 13 and 14 are concerned with charges to be imposed for the delivery of waste. Regulation 15 contains powers for the Secretary of State to grant exemptions from some provisions of the Regulations. There are provisions for inspection and detention, and the penalties to apply in cases of non-compliance. A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been produced and a copy placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from Shipping Policy 2 Division, Department for Transport, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR (telephone number 020 7944 3436). A transposition note has been prepared and copies may be obtained from the Department for Transport at the address above. Merchant Shipping Notices are published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Copies may be obtained from Mail Marketing (Scotland), Bloomsgrove Industrial Estate, Norton Street, Nottingham NG7 3JG (telephone number 0115 9013336; fax 0115 9013334; e-mail mca@promo-solution.com). The Code and Circulars referred to in the Regulations can be obtained from the International Maritime Organization, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

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