UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Miscellaneous Amendments)…

the instrument as a whole of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 85(5)-(7) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
acting without the licence or authorisation required
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.
  2. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
  3. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 85(5)-(7) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026
Revoked on
23 June 2026
Made
21 May 2019
In force from
30 June 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 provide for the implementation of the provisions of Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973, as amended by the Protocols of 1978 and 1997 as they relate to the requirements for ships to be issued with an international energy efficiency certificate (“IEE Certificate”) and a statement of compliance relating to fuel oil consumption (“Statement of Compliance”). The Regulations amend the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/2924) to impose a requirement for ships of more than 400 gross tonnage to be issued with an IEE Certificate. The regulations also require ships of more than 5,000 gross tonnage to be issued with a Statement of Compliance. The Statement of Compliance must be carried on board the ship and failure to carry the relevant certificate is a criminal offence. The Regulations also make consequential amendment to the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2601) and the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1104). The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 and the Protocols of 1978 and 1997 may be obtained in copy from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR and are available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) treaties database (http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/treaties/treaty.htm). The text of the Resolutions amending the Convention and Protocols may be obtained from the IMO or found on the FCO treaties database (http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/treaties/treaty.htm). A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum has been produced for this instrument and is published alongside this instrument at www.legislation.govuk.

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 →

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 0.57.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.57 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