The Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Measures) (Penalty Notices) Order 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order creates a scheme for the issuing and payment of penalty notices for certain fisheries offences.

It provides that an authorised person who has reason to believe that a person has committed a penalty offence (defined in article 3) may issue a penalty notice not exceeding £4000 (article 4). Article 5 provides that where a penalty notice has been issued, a person has 28 days in which to pay it, during which time proceedings cannot be brought. A person who pays the penalty within this time limit cannot be convicted of the offence to which the penalty notice relates. If a person does not pay the penalty within this time, these restrictions cease to apply.

Articles 6 and 7 deal with the method and effect of paying a penalty, including provision that, where penalty notices have been issued to different persons for the same offence arising out of the same set of circumstances, payment by one person is treated as being payment by another, in the absence of objection from that other.

A master, owner or charterer of a fishing boat that is from outside the United Kingdom and who has paid a penalty may request to be tried for the offence (article 10), in which case the penalty notice will be treated as never having been issued and the penalty will be repaid in the event of acquittal or discontinuance of the related court proceedings. In the event of conviction, the penalty notice will also be treated as never having been issued, but the penalty must be applied towards paying any fine imposed.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to this Order has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Fishing Industry Management Division, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.