UK Offence Report

Offences under the Council Regulation

article 9(1) of The Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order 2009

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

1 It is an offence for the person in charge of

a third country fishing vessel to enter port without authorisation under Article

7 of the Council Regulation.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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 9(1)?

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 Sea Fishing (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order 2009.

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
Status not determined
Made
23 December 2009
In force from
25 January 2010
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision for the enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 (OJ No L 286, 29.10.2008, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”) and Commission Regulation (EC) 1010/2009 (OJ No L 280, 27.10.2009, p.5) (“the Commission Regulation”) establishing restrictions and obligations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Article 4 designates the competent authority for the purposes of the Council and the Commission Regulations. Article 5 provides for controls on movement of consignments of fish or fishery products while verifications are carried out pursuant to Article 17 of the Council Regulation (which can include a request for assistance from the flag state of the vessel to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within, or the validity of, the catch certificate). Article 6 permits movement of such consignments under certain circumstances. Article 7 provides for the refusal of importation in the circumstances set out in Article 18(1) or (2) of the Council Regulation (where the catch certificate is lacking, invalid, inaccurate, incomplete, or where the request for assistance from the flag state, or lack of, confirms that a catch certificate should not have been issued). Article 18 of the Council Regulation also provides that Member States may confiscate, destroy, dispose or sell such fishery products in accordance with national law. The powers set out in sections 268 and 270 to 278 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (fisheries enforcement powers) are available to authorised officers in relation to both fish and fishery products. This includes a power to seize the fish and fishery products and release them in return for a bond. Article 8 requires the port health authority or local authority to charge a fee in respect of each consignment reflecting the expenses it has reasonably incurred. Article 9 provides that certain activities prohibited in the Council Regulation are offences punishable summarily or on indictment (article 10). Articles 12 to 15 provide for powers of British sea-fishery officers in the enforcement of this Order. Articles 18 to 20 make provisions about offences and bodies corporate, exchange of information and obtaining samples, and Article 21 for certain documents to be admitted as evidence. An impact assessment has been prepared and a copy placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ergon House, Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2AL or from the Department’s website.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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