UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 24(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025

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

2 It is an offence for

a person—

a to affix

a United Kingdom conformity mark to equipment which has not been granted United Kingdom conformity approval except where—

i the equipment is listed in Annex

6 of Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1874 and has been approved by the United States Coast Guard; or

ii the United Kingdom conformity mark has been affixed in accordance with

a specification of the Secretary of State pursuant to regulation 5(4)(c).

b to fail to comply with any requirement in regulation 9(1), 12, 13, 18,

19 or 20;

c to forge, counterfeit or otherwise alter, deface or remove any United Kingdom conformity mark or identification number affixed to equipment under these Regulations; or

d to fail to comply with

a direction, prohibition or restriction given under regulation 23.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 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 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 show that all reasonable steps had been taken by that person to ensure compliance with the provision concerned. 8 In this regulation, “ballast water management system” has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Merchant Shipping (Control and Management of Ships’

What would breach regulation 24(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. Being served with a notice under the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

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

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
15 December 2025
In force from
5 January 2026
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 revoke and restate or replace the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1025). The Regulations also revoke the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/470) and the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) (Amendment) (UK and US Mutual Recognition Agreement) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1304). Part 1 (regulations 1 to 4) contains introductory provisions and a power to designate approved and nominated bodies. Regulation 2 contains interpretation provisions. Regulation 3 applies the Regulations to all United Kingdom ships wherever they may be, other than Government ships. Regulation 4 gives the Secretary of State a power to designate approved and nominated bodies to carry out conformity assessment procedures. These procedures are used to determine whether equipment complies with specified standards. Regulation 4 also specifies, by reference to Schedule 3, the requirements a person must meet in order to become a nominated body and, by reference to Schedule 4, the process for applying for, and making, a designation as an approved body. Part 2 (regulations 5 to 8) provides for requirements to apply to equipment placed on board a ship and for exemptions from those requirements. Regulation 5 requires equipment placed on board a ship to meet the standards specified in Annexes 1 to 3 of Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1874 and to be approved in accordance with the conformity assessment procedures in the Regulations. Regulation 5 also sets out certain circumstances in which equipment is deemed to comply with applicable standards. Regulations 6 and 7 enable the Secretary of State to allow equipment that does not meet applicable standards to be placed on board a ship in certain specified circumstances, subject to any restrictions or conditions imposed. Regulation 8 requires the Secretary of State to inspect equipment on a ship that transfers to the UK Register to ensure the equipment complies with its safety certificates and with applicable standards or is equivalent to equipment that complies with those standards. Part 3 (regulations 9 to 14) makes provision for UK conformity procedures and related matters. Regulation 9 makes provision for applications to approved bodies for UK conformity approval of equipment and details, by reference to Schedule 2, the procedures for doing so. Regulation 10 sets out the obligations of approved bodies in relation to the granting or refusal of UK conformity approval and prescribes, by reference to Schedule 2, the requirements that must be fulfilled for granting UK conformity approval. Regulation 11 provides for the amendment of conformity approvals. Regulations 12 and 13 require manufacturers of equipment to issue declarations of conformity and affix conformity marks as prescribed. Regulation 12 also requires that a declaration of conformity must provide the information specified in Schedule 5. Regulation 14 provides that a manufacturer located outside the UK may appoint an authorised representative situated in the UK. Part 4 (regulations 15 and 16) makes provision for conformity approval of equipment on UK ships to which the principal conformity approval procedures do not apply and for related matters. Regulation 15 requires a manufacturer to apply to a nominated body for type approval of equipment listed in Annex 2 of Merchant Shipping Notice 1874 in accordance with the procedures set out in paragraph 10 of Merchant Shipping Notice 1874. Regulation 16 sets out the obligations of nominated bodies in relation to the granting or refusal of type approval and provides that the decision whether to grant type approval must be made in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 11 of Merchant Shipping Notice 1874. Part 5 (regulations 17 to 20) sets out obligations on economic operators. Regulation 17 sets out the manner in which regulations 18 to 20 apply. Regulation 18 imposes additional obligations on manufacturers in relation to the UK conformity approval process and applies these obligations to distributors and importers in specified circumstances. Regulation 19 imposes an obligation on importers which make equipment available on the market. Regulation 20 imposes obligations on economic operators to comply with certain requests from the Secretary of State regarding marine equipment. Part 6 (regulations 21 to 25) makes provision for enforcement. Regulation 21 enables approved bodies to restrict, suspend or withdraw their conformity approvals in certain circumstances. Regulation 22 allows the Secretary of State to carry out sample checks of equipment for market surveillance purposes. Regulation 23 enables the Secretary of State to take action where equipment complies with applicable international standards, but is nonetheless considered a threat to the safety of persons on board a ship or to the marine environment. Regulation 24 creates offences and provides penalties for breach of these Regulations, and provides a “reasonable steps” defence for those offences. Regulation 25 provides for the detention of ships in certain circumstances. Part 7 (regulations 26 and 27) contains miscellaneous provisions. Regulation 26 enables the Secretary of State to carry out market surveillance in accordance with paragraph 6 of Merchant Shipping Notice 1874. Regulation 27 introduces Schedule 1 which makes consequential amendments to and revocations of other legislation. Amongst other things, Schedule 1 amends the Merchant Shipping (Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments) Regulations 2022 to remove the provisions relating to type approval of ballast water management systems as type approval of such systems will fall within scope of these Regulations. No impact assessment has been produced for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Instead, a de minimis assessment has been prepared and has been published, with an Explanatory Memorandum, alongside these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk. Merchant Shipping Notices are published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Copies may be downloaded from the MCA's website www.gov.uk/government/organisations/maritime-and-coastguard-agency or by e-subscription from mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk with ‘Subscribe’ in the subject heading, or from M-Notices Subscriptions, P.O. Box 362, Europa Park, Grays Essex RM17 9AY, tel 01375 484548, fax 01375 484556.

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.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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