UK Offence Report

Amendment of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Regulations 2008

regulation 2(11)(b) of The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

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

b for sub-paragraph (c) substitute—

c regulation 20(1), 21(11), 23(6), 24(1), (4), (6), (7), (9), (10) or (11), 25(3), (3A) or (3B), (8), (10) or (11) or paragraph 2(3) to (5) or 5(1) to (5) of Schedule 2A is an offence by the master of the ship in question; ;

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 2(11)(b)?

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 Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

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
30 September 2021
In force from
22 October 2021
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 (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/2924) to give domestic effect to the following resolutions of the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization— MEPC.258(67), which came into force on 1st March 2016, so far as it relates to the definition of fuel oil; MEPC.286(71), which came into force on 1st January 2019, relating to the designation of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea Emission Control Areas for NOX Tier III control and information to be included in bunker delivery notes; MEPC.301(72), which came into force on 1st September 2019, so far as it relates to Emission Control Areas; MEPC.305(73), which came into force on 1st March 2020, relating to the carriage of non-compliant fuel oil for combustion purposes for propulsion or operation on board a ship; MEPC.316(74), which came into force on 1st October 2020, so far as it relates to electronic record books. These resolutions amend Annex VI (Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended by the Protocols of 1978 and 1997. The Convention and its Protocols and Annexes may be obtained in copy from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR and are available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) treaties database. The text of IMO resolutions amending the Convention and its Protocols and Annexes may be obtained from the IMO or can be found on the FCO treaties database. Future amendments to the Convention, its Protocols and Annexes may be obtained in copy from the IMO and, after coming into force in the United Kingdom, found on the FCO treaties database. Until such publication is made on the FCO treaties database, an amendment will be available from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and on https://www.gov.uk. An amendment 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 Note, which will be available in copy from the Agency and on https://www.gov.uk. The FCO treaties database can be found at https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/responsive/app/consolidatedSearch/. Regulation 2 makes corresponding amendments to regulations 2(1) (interpretation), 3 (application and exemptions), 21 (nitrogen oxides) and 25 (fuel oil quality) of the 2008 Regulations; and to Schedules 2 (engines excluded from regulation 21) and 2A (sulphur oxides) to the 2008 Regulations. Regulation 2 also amends regulation 32(1) (offences) of the 2008 Regulations to enable more effective enforcement action to be taken against owners, managers and demise charterers (as well as the masters of ships) in respect of certain existing offences and to create new offences in respect of the new requirements. Finally, regulation 2 inserts a new regulation 2A into the 2008 Regulations to make ambulatory provision (within the meaning of section 306A of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995) in relation to references in the 2008 Regulations to the Convention, including its Annexes. This will facilitate the implementation of subsequent amendments to the Convention, by reducing the need for domestic legislation. In consequence, Schedule 3 (information to be included in a bunker delivery note) of the 2008 Regulations has been revoked. An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument onwww.legislation.gov.uk.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 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