UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Regulations 2008

regulation 2(4) of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) and Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) (Amendment) Regulations 2014

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

4 In regulation 32 (offences) for paragraph (3A) substitute— 3A Where a ship uses an emission abatement method which is not— a permitted in accordance with paragraph 6 or 7 of Schedule 2A, b authorised for the purposes of articles 4c2, 4c3 or 4d of the 1999 Directive by an EEA state other than the United Kingdom, or c authorised for the purposes of Annex VI by a Contracting Government other than the United Kingdom, the owner and master are guilty of an offence and punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or on conviction on indictment by a fine.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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 2(4)?

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 (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) and Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

Penalty

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

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
17 November 2014
In force from
16 December 2014
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 2012/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21st November 2012 (O.J. L327, 27.11.2012, p.1) which amends Council Directive 1999/32/EC (O.J. L121, 11.5.1999, p.13) as regards the sulphur content of marine fuels (“the Directive”). Regulation 2 amends the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Regulations 2008 (the “2008 Regulations”). The principal changes made to the 2008 Regulations are: a a reduction in the maximum sulphur content of fuel used in a sulphur oxide emission control area from 1.50 per cent to 1.0 per cent by mass, reducing to 0.10 per cent from 1st January 2015, and b a reduction in the maximum sulphur content of fuel not intended to be used in a sulphur oxide emission control area from 4.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent by mass from 1st January 2015, and reducing to 0.50 per cent from 1st January 2020. A new regulation 37 is added to the 2008 Regulations which requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of the 2008 Regulations and to publish a report before 16th December 2019 and within every five years after that. Following a review, it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the 2008 Regulations should remain as they are or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the 2008 Regulations or amend them. Regulation 3 amends the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999 to reflect the revised methods to be used for determining the sulphur content of fuels required by the Directive and amending the definitions of marine diesel oil, marine gas oil, and marine fuel to accord with the Directive. Merchant Shipping Notices and Marine Guidance Notes 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; e-mail orders mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk). They may also be accessed on the MCA’s website www.mcga.gov.uk, which also has details of any amendments or replacements. Copies of the British Standards publications referred to in these Regulations may be obtained from any of the outlets operated by the British Standards Institution, or by post from the British Standards Institution at Standards House, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL. The 1999 Annual Book at ASTM Standards is available from the American Society for Testing and Materials, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428, USA. A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside these regulations at http://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.

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