UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Regulations 2025

the instrument as a whole of The Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) 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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (Light Dues) Regulations 2025, 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
5 March 2025
In force from
1 April 2025
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 remake with amendments the Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/562) (“the 1997 Regulations”). Regulations 2 and 4 to 6 remake the 1997 Regulations with some clarifications and modifications so that the provisions can be applied in a clear and consistent way. Regulation 3 and Schedule 1 provide for vessels that are exempt from light dues under these Regulations. The main changes included in the list of exemptions in Schedule 1 are as follows. The exemption for ships of less than 20 tons, other than ships liable to pay light dues by reference to their load line length has been amended so that it will only apply to ships other than tugs or fishing vessels with a load line length of 24 metres or less. The exemption for sailing ships used exclusively for sail training purposes, operating as travelling museums or vessels of historical interest has been amended so that it will apply to sailing ships used for sail training purposes by a registered charity. There is a new exemption for vessels registered on the National Register of Historic Vessels. The exemption for ships putting in solely for bunkers, stores, crew changes, embarkation or disembarkation of pilots, a medical emergency, or for provisions for their own use on board has been amended so that the exemption will only apply if the vessel is not otherwise engaged in any revenue earning or commercial activity or service and if the general lighthouse authorities are satisfied that the vessel is not ordinarily kept at the port to which the arrival relates. The exemption for any ships that are laid up has been amended so that it cross-refers to the correct regulation. Regulation 7 and Schedule 2 provide a list of instruments to be revoked in these Regulations. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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