Appendix 2 S.I. 2004/302: memorandum from
the Department for Transport
Merchant Shipping (High Speed Craft) Regulations
2004 (S.I. 2004/302)
1. The Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments has
asked for a memorandum on the following point:
Regulation 10(3) provides that it is to be a defence
for a person charged under the Regulations to show that he took
all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with the Regulations.
Is this provision intended to apply only to an offence under regulation
10(1)? If not, explain the relevance of this defence, and how
it is intended to operate, in respect of an offence under regulation
9(1), (2) and (3).
2. Regulation 10(3) is intended to be capable of
application to offences under the Regulations generally, not only
offences under regulation 10(1).
3. The defence in regulation 10(3) is intended to
apply in situations where an act that is, in all the circumstances,
reasonable in itself nevertheless results in an infringement of
the Regulations.
4. The defence is unlikely to have application in
the case of regulation 9. However, this was not disapplied because,
given in particular that unexpected events can arise at sea, it
was considered too difficult to distinguish satisfactorily between
all the particular provisions of the Regulations on the basis
of whether or not the defence could in practice apply to them.
Instead, it was considered better to rely on the fact that the
defence would only have practical effect in situations to which
it had relevance.
15 March 2004
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