UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002

regulation 2(5) of The Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) (Amendment) 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 In Schedule 4—

a after paragraph

6 insert— 6A If

a ship, to which regulation 19-1 applies, proceeds or attempts to proceed on any voyage or excursion without complying with

a requirement in paragraph 4,5,6 or

7 of that regulation, the owner and the master shall each be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for

a term not exceeding two years or

a fine, or both. ; and

b in paragraph

20 for the words “paragraph

3 of regulation 34” substitute “regulation 34-1”.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
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 master 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 2(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) (Amendment) Regulations 2011.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
12 December 2011
In force from
6 January 2012
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 amend the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002 to take account of regulations 19-1 and 34-1 of Chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Regulation 19-1 was inserted into Chapter V by Resolution MSC.202(81) of the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation and regulation 34-1 was inserted by Resolution MSC.153(78), which deleted paragraph 3 of regulation 34. These Regulations require compliance with the two new regulations making it an offence to proceed, or attempt to proceed, on a voyage without complying with regulation 19-1 or to contravene regulation 34-1. These Regulations amend the requirement to comply with future amendments of Chapter V specified in Merchant Shipping Notices in accordance with regulation 5(4) of the 2002 Regulations by extending it to all such amendments instead of just those of existing regulations in it. These Regulations also amend the 2002 Regulations to require the Secretary of State to review their operation and effect and to publish a report within five years after the requirement comes into force and every five years after that. Following each review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke or amend them. An impact assessment has been prepared and a copy 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 (telephone 02380 329100). It is also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk. No Transposition Note has been prepared in respect of these Regulations. By amending regulation 5(2) of, and inserting paragraph 6A into Schedule 4 to, the 2002 Regulations in order to require compliance with regulation 19-1, they include implementation of Article 6b of Directive 2002/59/EC. Article 6b requires ships, to which regulation 19-1 applies, to carry equipment complying with regulation 19-1. It was inserted by Directive 2009/17/EC. This Explanatory Note contains the information that would otherwise be included in the Transposition Note. 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 01375 484548; fax 01375 484556; email mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk) They may also be found on the MCA’s website, www.mcga.gov.uk, which also has details of any amendments or replacements. Copies of SOLAS can be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR, whose website is www.imo.org.

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”; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
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