UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship) (Bilge Alarm) Regulations 2021

the instrument as a whole of The Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship) (Bilge Alarm) 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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
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. Moving, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship) (Bilge Alarm) Regulations 2021, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

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
Status not determined
Made
17 May 2021
In force from
30 June 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 implement and supplement Recommendation 2009/141 of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch Report on the investigation into the flooding and foundering of the grab hopper dredger Abigail H in the Port of Heysham of July 2009 (‘the Report’). The Regulations apply to United Kingdom ships which are cargo ships of less than 500 gross tons and which are 24 metres or more in length, wherever they might be, and to non-United Kingdom cargo ships of less than 500 gross tons and which are 24 metres or more in length while they are within United Kingdom waters and not exercising the right of innocent passage or transit passage (regulation 3). Regulation 4 requires bilge water level detectors to be installed in any engine room and in any other space in which bilge water is likely to accumulate, and for those detectors to sound an audible alarm at the control position and in all accommodation spaces in the circumstances described. The Regulations make provision for exemptions (regulation 5), offences and penalties (regulation 6) and the detention of ships (regulation 7). A draft of these Regulations was notified on 2nd October 2020 to the European Commission in accordance with the Technical Standards Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/1535). Guidance supporting these Regulations has been published in a Marine Guidance Note (MGN 651(M)). Copies of the Report and of MGN 651(M) may be obtained free of charge at https://www.gov.uk or in hard copy from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG. An impact assessment of the effect this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside these Regulations 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 vote to approve it. A non-fatal motion to object was tabled, which records disapproval without stopping the instrument.

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, including the recorded division →

What Parliament said

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

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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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