UK Offence Report

2 Any failure by a master to comply with a requirement under regulation 36(5)(b) is an offence.

regulation 42(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 2019

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 Any failure by

a master to comply with

a requirement under regulation 36(5)(b) is an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 master 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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, it is a defence for the person charged to prove that person took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to ensure that the regulation in question was complied with. 2 Without prejudice to paragraph (1), in any proceedings for an offence comprising a contravention of any of regulations 25 to 2

What would breach regulation 42(2)?

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 Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 2019.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
Unlimited
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

'to a fine' with no stated maximum.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026
Revoked on
23 June 2026
Made
28 January 2019
In force from
1 March 2019
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

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 Annex I (Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil) of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (“the MARPOL Convention”). Annex I first entered into force on 2nd October 1983, and the revised version of the Annex which these Regulations implement entered into force on 1st January 2007. Further amendments have been made to the Annex which are also implemented by these Regulations. As a consequence the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2154) and other instruments which amend them are revoked, and other legislation is amended (regulation 1(2) and (3) and the Schedule). Part 1 contains an ambulatory reference provision (regulation 4) which means that references to provisions in the MARPOL Convention and other relevant instruments which are specified in this instrument are to be read as references to those instruments as amended from time to time. This means that amendments to these provisions will be automatically incorporated into these Regulations. Part 2 provides for the survey and certification of ships, and requires such vessels to be provided with an Oil Record Book (regulation 20). Part 3 prohibits the discharge into the sea of oil from certain ships other than in prescribed circumstances. Part 4 prescribes requirements as to the construction, provision of equipment and operation of the machinery space which ships must satisfy, and Part 5 makes similar provision in respect of the cargo areas of oil tankers. Part 6 specifies the requirements which apply to offshore installations, and Part 7 requires oil tankers of 150 GT and above, and other ships of 400 GT and above, to carry a Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan approved by the Secretary of State. Part 8 applies to ships operating in Polar waters (the Arctic waters and Antarctic area) and requires compliance with prescribed provisions in the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code). The Polar Code came into force on 1st January 2017. Part 9 makes provision in relation to powers of inspection and detention of ships. Provision is also made for jurisdiction over offences committed outside United Kingdom waters (regulation 45) and for suspension of proceedings at the request of a flag State (regulation 46). The Secretary of State must 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 thereafter (regulation 48). Following such 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. The MARPOL Convention, the RO Code and the Polar Code can be obtained from IMO Publishing, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR; www.imo.org/publications; email: sales@imo.org; telephone: 0297 735 7622. Resolutions of the IMO can be obtained from the IMO Library at the same address as IMO Publications and from www.imo.org.en/MediaCentre/Pages/Default.aspx, email: medi@imo.org; telephone: 020 7587 3134. Hard copies of the resolutions can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (an executive agency of the Department for Transport) at Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG, Tel: 12038 172000, email: infoline@gcaga.gov.uk. Other than where specified in this instrument, copies of the Command Papers referred to are not available electronically but are available for inspection free of charge but by appointment at the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0PW; email archives@parliament.uk: telephone: 0207 219 3074. Such Command Papers may be available electronically in the future on the FCO Treaty Database (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk). Future amendments to the MARPOL Convention may be obtained in copy from the IMO and, after coming into force in the United Kingdom, found on the FCO Treaty Database. Until such publication is made on that site, copies of such amendments will be available from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Copies of other documents to which the ambulatory reference provision applies may be obtained from IMO Publishing or, where such amendments are made by resolution, from the IMO Library or the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. An amendment to which the ambulatory reference provision applies will be publicised in advance of its in force date by means of a Parliamentary Statement to both Houses of Parliament and by way of a Marine Guidance Notice, which will be available from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Information supporting these Regulations may be published in a Marine Guidance Notice, Marine Shipping Notice or Marine Information Notice. Such notices are published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Copies may be obtained from https://www.gov.uk/topic/ships-cargoes/m-notices and there is provision to subscribe to email alerts alerting the user to new notices. Hard copies may be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. A copy of the UNCLOS Convention may be obtained from http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/pdf/1999/TS0081.pdf. or from the United Nations at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, Room DC2-0450, United Nations, New York, NY 10017: telephone 212 963 3950: email doalos@un.org, and at http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. A de minimis impact assessment is available from the Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR 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 →

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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