UK Offence Report

Liability of persons other than the principal offender

regulation 76(1) of The Recreational Craft Regulations 2017

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

1 Where the commission by one person (“X”) of an offence under these Regulations is due to anything which another person (“Y”) did or failed to do in the course of business, Y is guilty of an offence and may be proceeded against and punished, whether or not proceedings are taken against X.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 one 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 one 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 76(1)?

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 Recreational Craft Regulations 2017.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
11 July 2017
In force from
3 August 2017
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 transpose Directive 2013/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th November 2013 on recreational watercraft and personal watercraft (OJ No L 354, 28.12.2013 p.90) (“the Directive”).The Directive repeals and replaces Directive 1994/25/EC as amended by Directive 2003/44/EC which was implemented in the United Kingdom by the Recreational Craft Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1353) (as amended by S.I. 1998/116). These Regulations revoke and replace S.I. 1996/1353. Regulation 3 sets out the application of the Regulations to watercraft and personal watercraft and components subject to the exemptions set out in regulation 4. Part 2 sets out the obligations of persons placing a watercraft on the market. Regulation 6 provides that any person who places a watercraft on the market or puts it into service must ensure that it complies with the essential requirements set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations and includes the requirement that a product must not endanger the health and safety of persons, property or the environment. Regulations 8 to 17 set out the obligations that are specific to manufacturers. Manufacturers must ensure that watercraft have been designed and manufactured to comply with the essential requirements. The Regulations impose obligations on manufactures to carry out conformity assessments; draw up technical documentation, draw up declarations of conformity and affix the CE marking, label the equipment and ensure it is accompanied by instructions and safety information. Manufacturers must also monitor compliance. Regulation 16 places a duty on manufacturers to immediately take corrective action where the manufacturer considers or has reason to believe that a watercraft placed on the market may not conform. The obligations imposed on the manufacturer’s authorised representative are set out in regulation 39. Regulations 18 to 26 set out the obligations that are specific to importers. These obligations include ensuring that they are not placing on the market watercraft which are not in conformity with the essential requirements, checking that the manufacturer has carried out a relevant conformity assessment procedure and labelled the craft correctly. Regulation 23 requires importers to ensure that storage and transport conditions do not jeopardise conformity with the essential requirements. Regulation 24 places a duty on importers to immediately take corrective action where they consider or have reason to believe that a watercraft placed on the market may not conform. Regulations 27 to 32 set out the obligations that are specific to distributors. These obligations include ensuring that they are not placing on the market watercraft which are not in conformity with the essential requirements and that storage and transport conditions do not jeopardise conformity with the essential requirements. Regulations 33 provides that an importer or distributor who places a watercraft on the market under their own trade mark or who modifies a watercraft such that it may affect conformity is to be treated as the manufacturer for the purposes of these Regulations. Regulation 36 imposes obligations on a private importer where the manufacturer of a watercraft has not complied with the obligations on manufacturer. Regulations 37 and 38 set out obligations on economic operators and private importers to identify the economic operator who supplied the watercraft. Regulation 40 prohibits the improper use of the CE mark. Part 3 sets out the product and conformity assessment procedures. Part 4 sets out provisions concerning notification and monitoring of the bodies which carry out conformity assessment procedures in the UK. Part 5 sets out provisions for market surveillance and enforcement of these Regulations. Regulation 65 identifies the market surveillance authorities which have an obligation to enforce the Regulations. Regulation 67 and Schedules 13 and 14 provide for the enforcement powers which the enforcing authorities are to have. Regulation 73 provides for the contravention of certain provisions of these Regulations to be an offence. Regulation 74 sets out the penalties that are to apply for offences under these Regulations. Regulation 80 sets out provision for appeals against notices served under these Regulations. Part 6 deals with the power of a notified body to charge a fee and sets out a review provision, transitional provisions, and revocations. A transposition note and full impact assessment of the impact that these Regulations will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector are available from the Single Market Product Safety Team, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET and are also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

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”
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