UK Offence Report

Penalties

regulation 8(3) of The Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Passengers by Sea) Regulations 2012

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

3 A master who fails to comply with regulation 6(3) is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 8(3)?

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 master fails to comply with regulation 6(3).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Passengers by Sea) Regulations 2012, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

level 5 is unlimited in England and Wales for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015 (LASPO 2012 s.85, S.I. 2015/664).

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
19 December 2012
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 are made to support the operation of Regulation (EC) No. 392/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the liability of carriers of passengers by sea in the event of accidents (O.J. L131, 28.5.2009, p.24) (“the 2009 Regulation”) which comes into effect on 31st December 2012. The 2009 Regulation creates a regime relating to liability and insurance for the carriage of passengers by sea as set out in the relevant provisions of the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and the Luggage by Sea, 1974, as amended by the Protocol of 2002 (“the Athens Convention”). The 2009 Regulation also adopts the International Maritime Organisation’s (“IMO”) Reservation and Guidelines for the implementation of the Athens Convention adopted by the Legal Committee of the IMO on 19th October 2006. These Regulations apply to all international carriage where the ship is registered in the United Kingdom, the contract of carriage has been made in the United Kingdom or the place of departure or destination is in the United Kingdom (Regulation 3). They also apply to domestic voyages within the United Kingdom on board Class A ships, on or after 30th December 2016 and Class B ships on or after 30th December 2018 (Regulation 4). Class A and Class B ships are defined in article 4(1) of Directive 2009/45/EC of 25 June 2009 on safety rules and standards for passenger ships (O.J. L. 163, 25.6.2009, p.1) by reference to the sea areas in which they operate. Class B ships are passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages where they are at no point more than 20 miles from the line of coast. Ships falling within the description of Class A are those engaged on domestic voyages operating at greater distances from the coast. Ships must have insurance (Regulation 5) as evidenced by a certificate (Regulation 6). The Athens Convention sets a minimum level for insurance at 250,000 units of account per passenger on each occasion. Certificates may be issued in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State (Regulation 7) and must be carried on board the ship and produced on demand (Regulation 6). Failure to comply with the insurance obligations or to produce the certificate are offences (Regulation 8) and the ship may be detained (Regulation 9). Where the validity of a detention is questioned the matter may be referred to arbitration (Regulation 10) and compensation may be awarded (Regulation 11). The Regulations also require that passengers are supplied with information relating to their rights under the 2009 Regulation and failure to do this constitutes an offence (Regulation 12). A fee of £31.00 will be charged for the issue of a certificate (Regulation 13). The original Athens Convention, which is incorporated into United Kingdom law through Schedule 6 to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, will no longer apply to the carriage of passengers to which the 2009 Regulation is applied by these Regulations (Regulation 14). These Regulations require the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come fully into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the 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. An impact assessment of the effect these Regulations will have on the costs of the business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. The impact assessment is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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