UK Offence Report

1 If a cargo transfer or bunkering operation is carried out in contravention of these Regulations, the…

regulation 7(1) of The Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 (revoked)

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 If a cargo transfer or bunkering operation is carried out in contravention of these Regulations, the owner, the manager and the master of each ship carrying out the cargo transfer or bunkering operation 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 7(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 (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) 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
£25,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
8 April 2010
In force from
Not determined
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 govern transfers consisting wholly or mainly of oil between ships, known as ship to ship transfers, within the seaward limits of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom. Regulation 1(2) and (3) provide that the regulation of cargo transfers under regulation 3(2) takes effect either on 1st April 2011, or, if later, on the making of a licence decision where a harbour authority has applied for an oil transfer licence within two months of the coming into force of the Regulations and the licence decision has not been made by 1st April 2011. Regulation 3(1) prohibits ship to ship transfers consisting wholly or mainly of oil unless they are carried out within harbour authority waters. Under regulation 3(2) ship to ship transfers of cargo consisting wholly or mainly of oil are subject to prior authorisation by the relevant harbour authority under an oil transfer licence granted by the Secretary of State, having considered the programme’s likely impact on the environment by the procedure set out in Schedules 1 and 2. Where cargo transfers are likely to have a significant effect on a European site, the procedure implements Article 6 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (O.J. No. L 206, 22.7.92, p.7). Regulation 3(3) excludes from the Regulations ship to ship transfers involving ships engaged in certain offshore activities, ships engaged at the relevant time on government non-commercial service and general lighthouse authorities. Regulation 3(4) excludes from regulation 3(2) two categories of cargo transfers: transfers to lighten a ship to enable it to move to shallower waters and to consolidate cargo for bunkering operations. Regulation 4 sets out requirements for the authorisation of regulated transfers pursuant to an oil transfer licence. Regulation 5 sets out the procedure for an application for an oil transfer licence and for an amended oil transfer licence and requires a harbour authority to apply for an amendment to an existing licence within three months of becoming aware of a material change in circumstances. Regulation 6 confers on the Secretary of State the power to grant exemptions from regulation 3(1). Regulation 7 makes the contravention of certain provisions of the Regulations an offence. Regulation 8 provides transitional arrangements under which, in respect of a harbour in which at least six ship to ship cargo transfer operations have taken place during the year prior to 1st October 2010, regulation 3(2) does not apply to the relevant harbour authority for a maximum period of two years starting from that date, pending the obtaining of such a licence. An impact assessment of the effect of these Regulations on the cost of business has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

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