UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 9(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ships) (Stability) Regulations 2004

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 contravention of regulation 7(1) or (3) of these Regulations by the operator of

a regular service shall be an offence by that operator 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 operator
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 operator 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 9(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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ships) (Stability) Regulations 2004, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

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
1 November 2004
In force from
29 November 2004
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 implement Directive 2003/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14th April 2003 on specific stability requirements for ro-ro passenger ships (O.J. L 123, 17.5.2003, p.22) (“the Directive”), which applies to the European Economic Area by virtue of Joint Committee Decision 157 and 158. Regulation 3(1) of the Regulations sets out the ships to which the Directive applies. Regulation 4 sets out the stability requirements to which such ships are subject: in the case of existing ships those requirements are imposed by the Directive only from 2010 or 2015, as appropriate. Regulation 6 sets out the certification requirements of the Directive, and regulation 7 contains provisions regarding seasonal and short-time period operation. The Regulations also implement those provisions of the Agreement concluded at Stockholm on 27 and 28 February 1996 (“the Stockholm Agreement”, published in Merchant Shipping Notice M1673) which have now been superseded by Directive 2003/25/EC. They also extend the requirements of the Stockholm Agreement to High Speed Craft which are ro-ro passenger craft operating on regular scheduled services in the United Kingdom. Regulation 3(2) sets out the ships to which the requirements of the Stockholm Agreement are applied, and regulation 5(3) specifies the stability requirements applicable to those ships. Regulation 5(1) and (2) makes ships to which the Directive applies only from 2010 or 2015 subject to the requirements of the Stockholm Agreement in the period before the requirements of the Directive apply. Regulation 8 enables the Secretary of State to make exemptions from the requirements of the Stockholm Agreement. The Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/647), which previously implemented the Stockholm Agreement, are revoked, and a statutory reference to those Regulations amended. A Regulatory Impact Assessment and Transposition Note have been prepared and copies placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG. Merchant Shipping Notices can be read or downloaded free from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency website (www.mcga.gov.uk). Printed copies can be obtained from Mail Marketing (Scotland) Ltd, Unit 6 Bloomsgrove Industrial Estate, Norton Street, Nottingham, NG7 3JG (telephone 0115 901 3336). Resolutions of the International Maritime Organisation can be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 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