UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

regulation 27(6)(b) of The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026

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 paragraph (3), is liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 27(6)(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 (Port State Control) Regulations 2026.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

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
2 June 2026
In force from
23 June 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.

The United Kingdom is a signatory to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control which provides an international regime for the enforcement of standards for ship safety, pollution prevention and shipboard living and working conditions. These Regulations revoke and replace the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2601) (the 2011 Regulations) which apply to ships that are flagged with foreign States and which call at a port or anchorage in the United Kingdom. The 2011 Regulations are secondary assimilated EU law within the meaning of section 12(2) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (c. 28). In these Regulations— regulations 1 to 8 set out the commencement, extent, revocation and interpretive provisions and information about the ships to which the Regulations apply and inspections of those ships; regulations 9 provides for the prior notification requirements relating to a ship due to call at a port or anchorage within the United Kingdom; regulation 10 and Schedule 1 provide for an inspection report to be completed following an inspection of a ship and for a copy to be provided to the master of the ship and regulation 11 and Schedule 2 provide for the qualification criteria to be satisfied by inspectors; regulation 12 and Schedule 3, regulations 13 to 14 deal with all the matters related to the rectification and detention of ships and circumstances when such ships may be permitted to proceed to an appropriate repair yard; regulations 15 to 17, provide for the issuing of refusal of access notices to ships and the effect of such notices; regulation 18 provides for exceptional circumstances under which prohibited ships may be permitted to enter a port; regulations 19 to 21 set out rights of appeal, arbitration and compensation in relation to these Regulations; regulation 22 provides for the additional application of regulation 20 and 21 to certain specified Regulations; regulations 23 and 24 impose a duty on pilots and port authorities to report anomalies concerning ship arrivals and departures; regulation 25 makes provision in relation to complaints about a ship made to the Secretary of State and regulation 26 makes provision as to the payment of costs for inspections in connection with a refusal of access notice or detention of a ship; regulation 27 provides for offences and penalties for contraventions of these Regulations; regulation 28 and Schedule 4 set out the consequential amendments and revocations that need to be made to other Statutory Instruments in order to update cross-references to the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011. 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. Instead, a de minimis assessment has been prepared and has been published, with an Explanatory Memorandum, alongside the instrument on www.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 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction
Confidence
0.72 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