UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 15(3) of The Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations 2018

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 fisherman who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with

a requirement made under regulation 10(3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine of an amount not exceeding level

2 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

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.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

3 A fisherman who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement made under regulation 10(3) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

What would breach regulation 15(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 fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement made under regulation 10(3).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations 2018.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ 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
24 October 2018
In force from
30 November 2018
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 Article 10 of the Work in Fishing Convention 2007 (Cm 7375). They apply to fishermen on United Kingdom fishing vessels wherever they may be. Regulation 16 (inspection) also applies to fishing vessels other than United Kingdom fishing vessels, while they are in a United Kingdom port or United Kingdom waters. Regulation 4 provides that fishermen working on United Kingdom fishing vessels must possess medical fitness certificates and carry them on board the fishing vessel on which they are working, and Regulation 5 prohibits the employment of fishermen who do not have such a certificate. In limited circumstances and for limited periods of time, a fisherman may work on a fishing vessel without a medical fitness certificate. Regulations 6 to 8 make provision as to the issuing and validity of medical fitness certificates and for equivalent certificates to be accepted as medical fitness certificates in certain circumstances. Regulation 9 provides that fishermen must report medical conditions to the medical practitioner or other authority who issued their medical fitness certificate. Where this obligation applies, a medical certificate will be suspended until such time as the medical practitioner or authority has assessed the fisherman’s condition. Regulation 10 provides that, where there has been a significant change in a fisherman’s medical fitness, or where the medical practitioner who issued a medical fitness certificate was not in possession of full details about the fisherman and, if those details were appreciated the certificate would not have been issued, or where such a certificate has not been issued in compliance with these Regulations, a medical practitioner may suspend or cancel the certificate. Regulation 11 provides that the Secretary of State must arrange for the review by a medical referee of certain decisions by a medical practitioner. An application for review must be made within one month of the date or notification of the decision challenged, unless the Secretary of State agrees that a longer period is appropriate. Regulation 12 provides that medical practitioners and medical referees must keep records, and must send to the Secretary of State, on request, a return of medical examinations which have been carried out. Regulation 13 provides that, on application and payment of the medical practitioner’s administrative costs, a replacement medical fitness certificate may be issued where the person to which that certificate was issued is no longer in possession of it. Regulation 14 provides that the Secretary of State may grant exemptions from the requirement to have a medical certificate. Regulation 15 provides for offences and penalties for persons, including fishermen and fishing vessel owners, who fail to comply with these Regulations. Regulation 16 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come 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 amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. These Regulations are made under sections 85(1)(a) and (b), (3) and (5) to (7) and 86(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 except in so far as (a) they relate to parts of the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 which do not concern the health or safety of persons on ships. Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 is used to ensure that all parts of the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 are covered by these Regulations. Merchant Shipping Notices are published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (“the MCA”) (an executive agency of the Department for Transport). Copies may be obtained from M-Notices Subscriptions, PO Box 362, Europa Park, Grays, Essex RM17 9AY, email: mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk. They may also be accessed via the MCA’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/maritime-and-coastguard-agency, which also has details of any amendments or replacements. The Work in Fishing Convention may be downloaded from the website of the International Labour Organisation at https://www.ilo.org. Hard copies can be obtained by writing to the Seafarer Safety and Health Manager, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

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