UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations…

article 4(8) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement and Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2015

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

8 For regulation 8 (purchase of fish by an unregistered buyer), substitute—

8 Any person who buys fish contrary to Article 59(2) is guilty of an offence, unless the exemption in Article 59(3) applies .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
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 person 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 article 4(8)?

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 person buys fish contrary to Article 59(2).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement and Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2015.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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 February 2015
In force from
6 March 2015
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order extends to England and Wales and, except for articles 3 and 4, to Northern Ireland. The revocation of the British Fishing Boats Act 1983 (Guernsey) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/1203) and the Undersized Lobsters Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/1503) extend to the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Order makes amendments to instruments relating to the enforcement of EU obligations and restrictions relating to sea fishing. It also revokes a number of instruments. Following amendments made to section 30(1) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c.29) (“the 1981 Act”) by section 293 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (c.23), a breach of enforceable EU restrictions and obligations relating to sea fishing is an offence in England and Wales under section 30(1) of the 1981 Act. Accordingly, instruments which enforce EU restrictions and obligations relating to sea fishing are revoked by this Order for England and Wales (article 8 and the Schedule, which also revoke other obsolete instruments). Article 2 designates the Marine Management Organisation, the Welsh Ministers and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland as competent authorities for various purposes of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy (OJ No. L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 1), and of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 404/2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009 (OJ No. L 112, 30.4.2011, p. 1). Article 3 confers powers as to the recovery of fines by courts imposing fines on persons convicted of an offence under section 30(1) of the 1981 Act or under an order made under section 30(2) of the 1981 Act. Articles 4 to 6 amend the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/1605), the Offshore Marine Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1842) and the Tope (Prohibition of Fishing) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/691), updating references to relevant EU legislation. Article 7 and the Schedule revoke 57 instruments in their entirety and 5 partially with (in some cases) specified limits of territorial extent. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

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”
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