UK Offence Report

Transfer of days from one boat to another

article 6(3) of The Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order 2004

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 A person who makes

a false declaration in

a notification under paragraph (2) is 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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.

What would breach article 6(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person makes a false declaration in a notification under paragraph (2).
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order 2004.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order 2005
Revoked on
28 February 2005
Made
17 February 2004
In force from
19 February 2004
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order provides for the enforcement in England of the provisions of Annex V (“the Annex”) to Council Regulation (EC) 2287/2003 (OJ No. L344 31.12.2003. p. 1) fixing for 2004 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required. The Order contains provisions relating to the aggregation of management periods (article 3), the number of days which a vessel may be absent from port (article 4), the use of regulated fishing gear (article 5) and the manner in which days may be transferred between fishing vessels within the same management period (article 6). Further, the Order sets out provisions for the transportation of cod (article 7), a provision relating to the mixing of species within containers on board fishing vessels (article 8), procedures for the landing of cod in designated and non-designated ports (articles 9 to 11), a margin of tolerance relating to the recording of catches of fish in logbooks (article 12) and provisions relating to the maintenance of logbooks (article 13). The Order creates offences in respect of the contravention, by the person in charge of the relevant fishing boat (or the individuals otherwise specifically referred to) of provisions of the Annex. The offences relate to absences from port without notified fishing gear (article 3) or in excess of the days permitted (article 4), failure to use regulated fishing gear in the manner set out in the Annex (article 5), giving false information when attempting to transfer days from one vessel to another (article 6), transporting cod (article 7) or mixing of species (article 8) in a manner inconsistent with the Annex, the landing of cod in designated and non designated ports in contravention of notification and documentary requirements (articles 9 to 11), and failing to comply with the 8% tolerance for logbook records relating to catches of fish and failure to handover and dispatch logbooks in the manner prescribed (articles 12 and 13). The Order provides that a person guilty of an offence under it other than an offence under article 20 is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 and on conviction on indictment to a fine. Further fines up to and including the value of any fish caught in committing the offence are permitted and the court may also order the seizure of fish caught or equipment used in, or in activities leading to, the commission of the offence (article 14). The Order also provides for the recovery of fines imposed, or treated as imposed, by a magistrates' court (article 15). For the purposes of enforcing provisions of the Annex as applied above, the Order confers on British sea-fishery officers the powers to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (articles 16 to 18). Protection of such officers from liability is set out in article 19, and impeding them is an offence under article 20, with a fine of up to the statutory maximum on summary conviction and a fine on conviction on indictment. Articles 21 and 22 deal with corporate and equivalent offences and admissibility of documents in evidence. Consequential amendment and revocation is covered in articles 23 and 24. In addition article 23 includes further provision bringing forward the time for submission of logbook entries for landings in designated ports. A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to the Annex and this Order has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from Defra, Fisheries Division 1, Room 303, 10 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH.

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