UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 13(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Technical Requirements for Inland Waterway Vessels) Regulations 2010

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 The owner and master of

a vessel are guilty of an offence if the vessel—

a operates in contravention of these Regulations,

b while operating under an exemption granted under these Regulations, fails to comply with any terms subject to which that exemption was granted, or

c proceeds or attempts to proceed in contravention of regulation 12(5)(a)(i) or (6).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 owner
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 owner 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 13(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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Technical Requirements for Inland Waterway Vessels) Regulations 2010, 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
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 9567 — 09567 - Owner or master contravening regulations under R.13(1)(a) - (c) (Merchant Shipping (Technical Requirements for Inland Waterway Vessels) Regulations 2010). That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
29 March 2010
In force from
20 April 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement Directive 2006/87/EC dated 12 December 2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels and repealing Council Directive 82/714/EEC (O.J. No. L 389, 30.12.2006, p.1) as amended by Directive 2006/137/EC dated 18 December 2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. NO. L 389, 30.12.2006, p.261), Directive 2008/59/EC dated 12 June 2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No. L 166, 27.6.2008, p.31), Directive 2008/68/EC dated 24 September 2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No. L 260, 30.9.2008, p.13), Commission Directive 2008/87/EC dated 22 September 2008 (O.J. NO. L 255, 23.9.2008, p.5), Commission Directive 2008/126/EC dated 19 December 2008 (O.J. No. L 32, 31.1.2009, p.1) and Commission Directive 2009/46/EC dated 24 April 2009 (O.J. No. L 109, 30.4.2009, p.14). The Regulations also implement Directive 2009/100/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on reciprocal recognition of navigability licences for inland waterway vessels (O.J. L 259, 2.10.2009, p.8). The Regulations are made under sections 85(1)(a) and (b), (3) and (5) to (7) and 86(1) and (2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, except in so far as they relate to Government ships. Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 is used to extend the application of the Regulations to Government ships, in order to implement the obligations of Directive 2006/87/EC and Directive 2009/100/EC as respects such ships. Section 2(2) is also used as an enabling power for amendments made by Schedule 2 to instruments made under section 2(2), and read with paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 to the European Communities Act 1972 is used to provide that references in the Regulations to Annexes of Directive 2006/87/EC are references to those Annexes as amended from time to time. The Regulations apply to vessels as described in regulation 3(Application) which are operating on any waterway in the United Kingdom classified as a Zone 1, 2 3 or 4 waterway by Article 1 of Directive 2006/87/EC, other than vessels for which exemptions have been granted in accordance with regulation 4(Exemptions: vessels operating on waterways not linked to other Member States) or regulation 5(Exemptions: limited journeys of local interest or in harbour areas). Exemptions granted by the Secretary of State will be specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice. Regulations 6 to 10 make provision regarding the obligation in Directive 2006/87/EC for vessels to carry a Community inland navigation certificate, a Rhine Navigation Certificate or a navigability certificate of a third country recognised by the Secretary of State as equivalent to a Community inland navigation certificate. Regulation 11 and Schedule 1 implement certain provisions of Directive 2009/100/EC regarding the mutual recognition of navigability licences for vessels to which Directive 2006/87/EC does not apply. Merchant Shipping Notice 1805 makes provision as to the issuing by the Secretary of State of navigability licences to vessels to which Directive 2009/100/EC applies. Regulation 12 makes provision regarding inspection and remedial measures, and regulation 13 makes provision regarding offences and penalties. Regulation 14 and Schedule 2 amend a number of Regulations so as to disapply their provisions as respects vessels to which these Regulations apply. The up to date text of the Rhine Vessels Inspection Regulation in German and French (the RVBR) and of the Agreement on transport of dangerous goods on the Rhine in Dutch, German and French (the ADNR) may be consulted at the official website of the Central Commission for the Navigation on the Rhine at www.ccr-zkr.org. An impact assessment has been produced and copies may be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG (telephone number 02380 329100). It is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the Regulations on the OPSI website at www.opsi.gov.uk. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Merchant Shipping Notices are published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Copies may be obtained from M-Notices Subscriptions, PO Box 362, Europa Park, Grays Essex RM17 9AY, tel 01375 484548, fax 01375 484556, email mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk. They may also be accessed via the MCA’s website www.mcga.gov.uk, which also has details of any amendments or replacements.

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