UK Offence Report

Duty on shipowner’s security provider to notify the Secretary of State where a shipowner’s security has been…

regulation 53I(3) of The Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Compulsory Financial Security) (Amendment) 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 Failure to give notice under paragraph (1) within the period of

30 days beginning with the date on which the shipowner’s security was terminated is an offence by the shipowner’s security provider.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 53I(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 there is failure to give notice under paragraph (1) within the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which the shipowner’s security was terminated.
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Compulsory Financial Security) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, 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
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
31 May 2018
In force from
12 July 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 amend the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Minimum Requirements for Seafarers etc.) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1613) (“the Minimum Requirements Regulations”) to implement the amendments of 2014 to the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (“the 2014 amendments”), which were approved by the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference on 11 June 2014. They also amend the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Survey and Certification) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/1785). Part 2 of these Regulations implements the 2014 amendments. It introduces, at regulation 2(6), Parts 10A and 10B into the Minimum Requirements Regulations. The inserted Part 10A deals with financial security for shipowner’s liability for death or injury to seafarers and inserts regulations 53A to 53K into the Minimum Requirements Regulations. The inserted regulations 53B and 53C require UK and certain other ships to be covered by a contract of insurance or other form of financial security to provide financial assurance in the event of long term disability or death to seafarers due to occupational illness, injury or hazard (“shipowner’s security”). The inserted regulation 53D provides for payment of compensation where the amount payable is set out in the seafarer’s seafarer employment agreement. Under this provision compensation must be paid within 14 days of the financial security provider being satisfied that the shipowner concerned is liable to pay the compensation. Where a seafarer suffers long term disability, the amount of compensation payable in respect of which takes longer than 7 days from the days of the shipowner becoming liable to determine, and is suffering hardship, the inserted regulation 53E provides that interim payments may be made to the seafarer. The inserted regulation 53F makes it an offence for any person to induce another to accept less than the full amount of compensation payable in respect of death or long term disability of a seafarer, as set out in a seafarer’s seafarer employment agreement. Shipowners are under a duty under the inserted regulation 53G to display each certificate or other documentary evidence relating to the ship in a conspicuous place on board ship and, if it is not in English, along with an English translation. The contents of the certificate or other documentary evidence is set out in Schedule 3. The inserted regulation 53H provides the termination of a shipowner’s security before the end of its period of validity by the shipowner’s security provider is effective only if the shipowner’s security provider gives 30 days’ prior notice in writing to the Secretary of State. Following the termination of a shipowner’s security before the end of its period of validity, the provider must, under the inserted regulation 53I, give notice of the termination to the Secretary of State within 30 days. Under the inserted regulation 53J, a shipowner who becomes aware that a shipowner’s security is to be terminated (or has been terminated) must give notice to all seafarers who work on the ship until the shipowner’s security has been replaced or reinstated. Part 10B deals with financial security to provide financial assistance to abandoned seafarers and inserts regulations 53K to 53S into the Minimum Requirements Regulations. The inserted regulations 53M and 53N require UK and certain other ships to be covered by a contract of insurance or other form of financial security which provides financial assistance to seafarers who are abandoned (as defined) (“abandonment security”). Regulation 53N also provides that seafarers may make claims for financial assistance directly to abandonment security providers (defined as “abandonment claims”). The inserted regulation 53O provides that where an abandonment claim is made providers must determine within 7 days of receipt whether the seafarer making the claim is entitled to assistance. If the seafarer is so entitled, payment must be made within 14 days of receipt of the claim. If a provider fails to make this determination, financial assistance must nevertheless be given to the seafarer. Regulation 2(3) amends the Minimum Requirements Regulations to make it discretionary for the Secretary of State to repatriate a UK seafarer (or support the seafarer pending repatriation), where that seafarer is entitled to receive financial assistance under an abandonment security. The inserted regulation 53P provides for the subrogation of a seafarer’s rights against a shipowner to an abandonment security provider who has provided the seafarer with financial assistance. Shipowners are under a duty under the inserted regulation 53Q to display each certificate or other documentary evidence relating to the ship in a conspicuous place on board ship and, if it is not in English, along with an English translation. The contents of the certificate or documentary evidence is set out in Schedule 4. The inserted regulation 53R provides that the termination of an abandonment security before the end of its period of validity by the abandonment security provider is effective only if the abandonment security provider gives 30 days’ prior notice in writing to the Secretary of State. Under the inserted regulation 53S, a shipowner who becomes aware that an abandonment security is to be terminated (or has been terminated) must give notice to all seafarers who work on the ship until the shipowner’s security has been replaced or reinstated. Regulation 2(8) and (9) provide for penalties consequent on contravention of the aforementioned inserted provisions. Part 3 makes change to the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Survey and Certification) Regulations 2013 to substitute a definition for “the UK Maritime Labour Convention standards”. 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 2014 amendments may be downloaded from the website of the International Labour Organisation at the following address: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_248905.pdf. 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. The Maritime Labour Convention may be downloaded from the website of the International Labour Organisation at www.ilo.org/global/standards/maritime-labour-convention/lang--en/index.htm. Copies of the Maritime Labour Convention may be obtained as a priced publication from www.tsoshop.co.uk, by post from TSO Customer Services, PO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN, tel: +44 (0) 333 202 5070. A regulatory triage assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument 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 0.88.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.88 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