UK Offence Report

1 Where any contravention of, or failure to comply with, any specified Community measure is committed in…

article 3(1) of The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Wales) Order 2000

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

1 Where any contravention of, or failure to comply with, any specified Community measure is committed in respect of any fishing boat within the sea adjacent to Wales or the entry into the sea adjacent to Wales by any fishing boat, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) of such fishing boat shall each be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
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 master 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 article 3(1)?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Wales) Order 2000, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
10 August 2000
In force from
11 September 2000
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.

(This note does not form part of the Order) This Order revokes the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1949) and the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) (Amendment) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/2841) in so far as they apply to Wales (article 15). The Order re-enacts provisions for the enforcement of Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 894/97 (OJ No. L132, 23.5.97, p.1) laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources (“Regulation 894/97”). The Order also makes provision for the enforcement of restrictions and obligations contained in Council Regulation (EC) No. 850/98 (OJ No. L125, 27.4.98, p.1) for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms, as amended (“Regulation 850/98”). Article 3 of the Order creates offences in respect of breaches of: Article 11 of Regulation 894/97; the provisions of Regulation 850/98 referred to in column 1 (and briefly described in column 2) of the Schedule to the Order; the provisions of Regulation 850/98 referred to in article 3(2); and technical measures applying in 2000 by virtue of Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) 2742/99 (OJ No. L341, 31.12.99, p.1). Penalties, which may include the forfeiture of fish, nets and other fishing gear, are specified for such offences (article 4). The Order confers powers of enforcement, in relation to fishing boats and on land, on British sea-fishery officers acting in Wales and within the sea adjacent to Wales. Those powers extend to the seizure of fish and fishing gear (articles 6, 7 and 8). Other officers are also given powers in relation to undersized fish and nets and fishing gear (article 9). Provision is made for the punishment of anyone found guilty of obstructing or assaulting an officer (article 11). Provision is also made for the prosecution of offenders and for proceedings by local fisheries committees (article 13). The statutory maximum penalty referred to in the Order is currently £5,000. The Order provides powers for the recovery of fines imposed by a magistrates' court (article 5). Articles 10, 12 and 14 contain ancillary provisions.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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