Part 8Enforcement
Chapter 2Common enforcement powers
Miscellaneous and ancillary powers
I1259Power to direct vessel or marine installation to port
1
This section applies where—
a
an enforcement officer considers that it would not be reasonably practicable for the officer to exercise a power which the officer wishes to exercise in relation to a vessel or marine installation without detaining the vessel or marine installation in a port, or
b
an enforcement officer reasonably believes that—
i
a vessel or marine installation is itself evidence of the commission of a relevant offence, and
ii
the only reasonably practicable way to preserve that evidence is to detain the vessel or marine installation in a port.
2
The officer may—
a
take, or arrange for another person to take, the vessel or marine installation and its crew to the port which appears to the officer to be the nearest convenient port, or
b
require the person who is for the time being in charge of the vessel or marine installation to take it and its crew to that port.
3
When the vessel or marine installation has been taken to a port, the officer may—
a
detain it there, or
b
require the person for the time being in charge of it to do so.
4
An enforcement officer who detains any vessel or marine installation under this section must serve a notice on the person who is for the time being in charge of it.
5
The notice must state that the vessel or marine installation is to be detained until the notice is withdrawn.
6
A notice served under subsection (4) may be withdrawn by service of a further notice signed by an appropriate enforcement officer.
7
In subsection (6) the reference to an appropriate enforcement officer is a reference to any enforcement officer acting on behalf of the same relevant authority as the enforcement officer who served the notice under subsection (4), and includes a reference to that officer.
“Relevant authority” means the person or body on whose behalf the officer who detained the vessel or marine installation was acting.