UK Offence Report

5 A pilot who contravenes regulation 19(3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a…

regulation 23(5) of The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011 (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

5 A pilot who contravenes regulation 19(3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 pilot
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 a pilot 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 23(5)?

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 pilot contravenes regulation 19(3).
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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

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
31 October 2011
In force from
24 November 2011
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 2009/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on port State control (OJ No. L131, 28.05.2009 p.57.). The Directive provides a regime for the enforcement, in respect of shipping using ports in Member States of the European Union and their waters, of international standards for ship safety, pollution prevention and shipboard living and working conditions. The Directive is extended to the EEA. In addition to the provisions implementing the Directive, the Regulations also provide, in Part 2, for similar rights of appeal and compensation in respect of any ship detained under other specified Regulations and, in Part 3, for checking the familiarity of the master and crew with operational procedures. Part 1 of the Regulations applies to ships which are not British ships calling at a UK port or anchorage. The Secretary of State is required to carry out the United Kingdom’s share of European Union and Paris MOU inspections (regulation 4) The minimum requirements for an initial inspection and more detailed inspections are set (regulation 5) and an expanded inspection regime is applied to specified categories of ships (regulation 6). A report of an inspection must be given to the master (regulation 7). The qualifications for inspectors are prescribed (regulation 8). A ship’s deficiencies must be rectified and, if hazardous to safety, health or the environment will caused the ship to be detained pending rectification (regulation 9). Access to UK ports and anchorages is prohibited to prescribed ships which have been subject to detention, subject to force majeure or other specified circumstances (regulations 10-13). There is provision for rights of appeal and compensation (regulations 14-16) and provision for movement of detained ships to repair yards (regulation 17 and 18) Pilots and port authorities are required to report anomalies prejudicing safe navigation (regulation 19). Port authorities must also report on ship movements (regulation 20). The Secretary of State must deal with complaints, but not reveal the identity of complainants to the master or owner (regulation 21). The shipowner is liable for costs relating to refusal of access and when a ship is detained (regulation 22). Offences and penalties for the breach of requirements are prescribed by (regulation 23). The rights of appeal and compensation in respect of detained ships under Part 1 are applied in respect of the detention of any ship (including a British ship) which is detained by virtue of specified powers in merchant shipping legislation. (regulation 24) The familiarity of the master and crew of any ship in the United Kingdom, and of any ship registered in the United Kingdom elsewhere, with operational procedures may be checked (regulation 25) The Secretary of State is required to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether these Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. (regulation 26) An impact assessment and a transposition table have been prepared and a copy of each has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG. The impact assessment and transposition note are also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk. Merchant Shipping Notices are published by the MCA. Copies are available from M-Notices subscriptions, P.O.Box 362 Europa Park, Grays, Essex RM17 9AY (telephone number 01375 484548; fax 01375 484556; email orders mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk). They may also be found on the MCA’s website www.dft.gov.uk/mca, which also has details of any amendments or replacements. The Conventions referred to in regulation 3(1) can be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1.

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