Sale of first sale fish landed from a licensed fishing vessel

regulation 10 of The Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005

• Status not determined
• Strict liability
• Either way
• Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

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

10 Any person who sells first sale fish which has been landed in the United Kingdom otherwise than by

a licensed fishing vessel 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

selling or supplying something the instrument restricts

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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 10?

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 sells first sale fish which has been landed in the United Kingdom otherwise than by a licensed fishing vessel.
2. Selling the goods under the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial

Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court

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.

• Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales

  How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.

• Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014

  Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.

• Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016

  Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.

• Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.

• Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017

  The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.

• General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019

  The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.

• Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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

10 June 2005

In force from

7 July 2005

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 make provision for the administration and enforcement of Article 22 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, “the CFP Regulation”, (O.J. No. L 358, 31.12.02, p.59) and Article 9 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (O.J. NO. L 261, 20.10.93, p.1.) which impose requirements relating to the first marketing and purchasing of fish (first sale fish. The Regulations come into force on 7th July 2005 except for regulations 4,5,8 and 9 which come into force on 1st September. The Regulations do not form part of the law of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, for which separate administration and enforcement provisions are respectively being made. The Regulations make provision for the registration by the Secretary of State of sellers of first sale fish (regulation 3), designation of fish auction sites (regulation 6) and registration of buyers of first sale fish (regulation 7). Regulation 5 requires registered fish sellers to maintain records of their sales of first sale fish and regulation 9 requires buyers of first sale fish to maintain records of their purchases of first sale fish. And the Regulations provide offences for the purposes of the enforcement of these registrations and designations (regulations 3(9), 3(10), 5(7), 6(8), 6(9), 7(8), 7(9) and 9(6). The Regulations provide offences in relation to the sale and purchase of first sale fish. Regulation 4 provides an offence to sell first sale fish at a designated auction site unless registered as a fish seller. By regulation 8 it is an offence to buy first sale fish contrary to Article 22(2)(b) of the CFP Regulation (requirement that buyers of first sale fish are registered) as read with the final sub-paragraph of that article 22(2), which provides an exception for fish bought for private consumption. By regulation 10 it is an offence to sell first sale fish landed otherwise than by a licensed fishing vessel. And by regulation 11 it is an offence to buy first sale fish unless the fish has been landed by a licensed fishing vessel. Penalties for these offences are provided by regulation 12: on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment a fine. Where a person is convicted of an offence under regulations 3(9), 3(10), 5(7) 6(8), 6(9), 7(8), 7(9) or 9(6) a court may also revoke the registration or designation concerned and may order that the person convicted is disqualified from applying for registration or designation for a specified period. The Regulations confer powers of enforcement on British sea fishery officers for the purposes of enforcing these Regulations. These powers may be exercised in relation to premises in England, to any fishing boat within relevant British fishery limits and in relation to a relevant British fishing boat wherever it may be (regulations 13 to 15). Regulation 16 makes provision for protection of British sea fishery officers and regulation 17 provides offences and penalties for their obstruction. Regulation 18 makes provision in respect of offences by bodies corporate.

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.

• Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 Lords · 20 July 2005 · Baroness Byford

  My Lords, the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has stated that: "These Regulations are drawn to the special attention of the House on the grounds that they give rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House, and that they may inappropriately implement European legislation". I am particularly grateful to the Minister and to the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, who so…

• Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 Lords · 20 July 2005 · Baroness Byford

  rose to move to resolve, That this House regrets that Her Majesty's Government have not considered that the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 inappropriately implement European legislation (SI 2005/1605) [5th Report from Merits Committee.].]

• Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 Lords · 20 July 2005
• UK Fisheries Commons · 12 February 2020 · Mrs Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con)

  I beg to move, That this House has considered the future of UK fisheries. Since the Fisheries Bill is currently proceeding in the other place, I felt that it was timely to call for this debate to discuss the massive opportunities that a future fisheries regime can provide the UK as an independent coastal state. The Fisheries Bill means that, for the first time in almost 40 years, the Minister will have autonomy…

Other offences in the same instrument

• Purchase of first sale fish landed from a licensed fishing vesselregulation 11(1)
• Obstruction of officersregulation 17(1)
• Registration of fish sellersregulation 3(10)
• Registration of fish sellersregulation 3(9)
• Sale of fish by unregistered sellerregulation 4
• Maintenance of records by registered fish sellerregulation 5(7)
• Designation of fish auction sitesregulation 6(8)
• Designation of fish auction sitesregulation 6(9)
• Registration of fish buyersregulation 7(9)
• Purchase of fish by an unregistered buyerregulation 8(1)
• Purchase of fish by an unregistered buyerregulation 8(2)
• Purchase of fish by an unregistered buyerregulation 8(3)

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

• This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
• The Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 2005