UK Offence Report

Amendment of regulation 7

regulation 9(3) of The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) (Amendment) Regulations 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

4 Any operator of an oil handling facility who, without reasonable cause, breaches the obligation in regulation 4(11) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by

a fine not exceeding £5,000, 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a person
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 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 regulation 9(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 person breaches the obligation in regulation 4(11).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) (Amendment) Regulations 2015, 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
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

stated as £5000, but uncapped in England and Wales by LASPO 2012 s.85(1) ("£5,000 or more, however expressed") for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015.

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 March 2015
In force from
19 July 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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, make amendments to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1056) (“the 1998 Regulations”) for the purpose of implementing the environmental requirements of Articles 14 and 28 of Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC (OJ No L178, 28.6.2013, p.66), which relate to the requirement to have an internal emergency response plan. The remaining requirements of those Articles are implemented by the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/743) (as amended by the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/398)). The 1998 Regulations make provision for certain facilities in the United Kingdom’s internal waters, territorial sea and continental shelf to have an oil pollution emergency plan. The amendments effected by these Regulations apply the requirement to have an oil pollution emergency plan to non-production installations in the territorial sea and the continental shelf and apply further requirements to installations and their connected infrastructure which are carrying out offshore oil and gas operations, including well operations, in the territorial sea and the continental shelf, but not in internal waters. These requirements include the circumstances in which a review of the plan must be carried out and to extra obligations relating to the maintenance and availability of relevant equipment and expertise. The new paragraph (2) inserted into regulation 8 of the 1998 Regulations allows for inspectors appointed under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c. 21) to exercise their inspection and enforcement powers in relation to the whole of the 1998 Regulations, as amended. The Secretary of State and the Health and Safety Executive together form the competent authority for the purposes of the Directive and new regulation 9 inserted into the 1998 Regulations makes provision ensuring that the Secretary of State can share with the HSE information relevant to the fulfilment of the functions of the competent authority. A transposition note and a full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector are annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk

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