Regulation 4 Offences and penalties

Any contravention of regulation 3 shall be an offence by the owner, the master and any other person for the time being responsible for the conduct of the ship, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or on indictment by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine or both.

It shall be a defence to a charge under these Regulations to show that there were compelling reasons not to use a particular adopted mandatory ships’ routeing system, and that such reasons were recorded in the ship’s log at the time.