Yachting Centres Regulations, 2011

L.N. 103 of 2011

AUTHORITY FOR TRANSPORT IN MALTA ACT

(CAP. 499)

PORTS AND SHIPPING ACT

(CAP. 352)

Yachting Centres Regulations, 2011

IN exercise of the powers conferred by articles 43(1) and

(3) and 44 of the Authority for Transport in Malta Act and by

article 3(1)(a) of the Ports and Shipping Act, the Minister for

Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, in consultation

with the Authority for Transport in Malta, has made the following

regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Yachting Centres

Regulations, 2011.

(2) These regulations shall be deemed to have come

into force on the 1st January, 2011.

(3) These regulations shall apply to all yachting centres

in the in the internal and territorial waters of Malta, whether such

yachting centres are of a temporary or permanent nature.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires

“the Act” means the Authority for Transport in Malta

Act;

“the Authority” means the Authority for Transport

in Malta established under the Act, and it shall include any

person authorised by the Authority to act on its behalf;

“craft” means every description of craft used in

navigation;

“facilities” means any buoys, moorings, quays, wharves,

jetties, piers, pontoons, boats and any fittings or appurtenances

connected therewith, and any property movable or immovable

provided at a yachting centre, and any services necessary

and ancillary to the operation of a yachting centre or offered

therein;

“manager of a yachting centre” means the person or

representative appointed by the operator of a yachting centre

responsible for the day-to-day management and administration

of the yachting centre;

“Minister” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it

by the Act;

“mooring” means any gear, including any anchor or

stake, to which a yacht or other craft may be secured by

a chain, cable, wire or rope; and for the purpose of these

regulations, mooring refers to a mooring found within a

yachting centre and controlled and managed by the operator

of a yachting centre only;

“operator of a yachting centre” means the person

authorised by the Authority or by the Minister to manage and

operate a yachting centre;

“yacht” means a registered sea going vessel used solely

for pleasure and accepted as such by the Authority;

“yachting centre” means any area within the internal

and territorial waters of Malta which is primarily intended,

organised and equipped with facilities and used for the

berthing and mooring of yachts, and it shall also include a

marina, whether of a temporary or permanent nature.

(2) In these regulations, words and expressions not

otherwise defined in these regulations and which occur in the Act

have the same meaning assigned to them in the Act.

No person shall operate a yachting centre unless

authorised by the Authority or by the Minister.

The Authority shall have supervisory and regulatory

powers over all yachting centres in the internal and territorial

waters of Malta in order to ensure

the preservation of good order in the yachting

(a)

centres;

(b) the safety and security of all the persons, yachts

and other craft using the facilities of a yachting centre;

(c) the safety of navigation within the yachting centres

together with their fairways and established approaches, and

in the vicinity thereof;

(d) the prevention of, and response to, pollution

and the preservation of the marine environment within the

yachting centres together with their fairways and established

approaches, and in the vicinity thereof;

(e) the quality standards of the facilities offered by the

yachting centres;

(f) that all applicable laws and regulations are fully

complied with; and

(g) that Malta is adequately promoted as a yachting

destination.

(1) All operators of yachting centres and persons, yachts

and other craft using any of the facilities of a yachting centre

shall abide with the provisions of these regulations and any other

applicable law or regulations in force from time to time, and with

any special or general directives given by the Authority from time

to time in order to fulfil its supervisory and regulatory functions

over yachting centres.

(2) Directives given by the Authority shall specify the

extent of their application. Directives may apply

(a) to all yachts or other craft or a designated class of

yachts or other craft using the facilities of all or any of the

yachting centres;

(b) to all or any of the yachting centres;

(c) to the whole or parts or any of the yachting centres

together with their fairways and established approaches, and

in the vicinity thereof; and

(d) for all times or a specific period of time or times of

the day or days of all or any of the yachting centres.

Without prejudice to any other provision of these Yachting centres in

regulations or of any other law or regulations, where a yachting ports.

centre is located within a port, the operator and the manager thereof

shall at all times be subject to and comply with the directives and

instructions of the Authority.

The operator of a yachting centre shall ensure that all

yachts and other craft using the facilities of the yachting centre

are validly registered according to the provisions of the Ports and

Shipping Act and that their registration markings are clearly visible

at all times.

(1) The operator of a yachting centre shall install and

lay down all the necessary aids to navigation, including buoys and

lights, within the yachting centre together with its fairway and

established approaches, and in the vicinity thereof, as the Authority

may from time to time direct, and the operator shall take all other

steps which are necessary to prevent any danger to navigation.

(2) The operator of a yachting centre shall comply with

any other additional requirements that the Authority may prescribe

from time to time.

(3) The operator of a yachting centre shall ensure that

all aids to navigation comply with the applicable International

Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) standards and that

they are fully functional and in a good state of repair at all times.

(4) Without prejudice to any other applicable

penalties, if the operator of a yachting centre fails to comply with

the provisions of this regulation, the Authority may, after issuing

a warning to the operator of the yachting centre to remedy the

situation within a stated period, take all such measures that are

necessary to install and lay down or repair the necessary aids to

navigation and to ensure that any danger to navigation is removed

at the sole expense of the operator of the yachting centre.

(1) All operators of yachting centres shall appoint and

keep a manager for the yachting centres they operate.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of any

other law or regulations, operators of yachting centres shall be

responsible for

(a) the overall management, control and good order of

the yachting centre;

the overall safety and security of all the persons,

(b)

yachts and other craft using the facilities of the yachting

centre;

(c) the provision of safe and adequate facilities for the

berthing and mooring of yachts and other craft;

(d) ensuring that all the facilities of the yachting centre

are subject to regular and proper maintenance and surveyed at

least every five years by a competent person

Provided that maintenance records and survey reports

shall be adequately kept and made available to the Authority

upon request;

(e) the adequate provision of first aid facilities,

certified fire-fighting equipment and pollution prevention and

response equipment;

(f) the adequate provision of waste, garbage and other

refuse reception, collection and disposal facilities;

(g) the provision of all the lifebuoys, lifelines and

safety ladders according to the number of yachts and other

craft that may use the facilities of the yachting centre;

(h) ensuring that all the equipment listed in sub-

paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) is fully functional and in a good

state of repair at all times;

(i) establishing and keeping in force an updated

emergency response plan, which shall be submitted to the

Authority for its approval, and which shall include as a

minimum

(i) a site plan showing the location of all the

emergency response equipment and emergency shut

offs;

(ii) procedures to be followed in the case of fire;

(iii) procedures to be followed in the case of fuel

and hazardous waste spills and any other pollution;

(iv) procedures to be followed in the case of a

medical emergency; and

(v)

procedures to be followed for evacuation.

(j) ensuring that the fairway and the established

approaches of the yachting centre are not obstructed at any

time;

(k) the removal of any sunken craft or other object

causing a danger to navigation or posing an environmental

risk;

(l) ensuring that the foreshore areas contiguous to

the yachting centre, and which are under the control of the

operator of the yachting centre, remain open to the general

public at all times;

(m) granting access to disabled persons and persons

with reduced mobility;

(n) ensuring that the yachting centre is adequately

managed at all times;

(o) ensuring that maintenance works and repairs to

the yachts and other craft in the yachting centre are limited

to those of a minor or routine nature and shall only include

operations that do not result in polluting water or air or cause

a nuisance to the other users of the yachting centre

Provided that such works or repairs shall at no time

violate the safety, security and welfare rights enjoyed by

any person or yacht or other craft using the facilities of the

yachting centre;

(p) issuing and maintaining in force at all times

adequate insurance policies covering the yachting centre

and all the persons, yachts and other craft using the yachting

centre, and that copies of such insurance policies or their

renewals shall be made available to the Authority upon

request; and

(q) ensuring full compliance with all the applicable

laws and regulations in force from time to time, especially

those laws and regulations regulating the safety and security

of persons, yachts and other craft, pollution prevention and

response, and waste, garbage and other refuse reception,

collection and disposal, and with any directive given by the

Authority from time to time.

The operator of a yachting centre shall at all times allow Right of access.

free and unrestricted access to the enforcement officers appointed

by the Authority and to members of the Police and the Armed

Forces of Malta.

(1) The operator of a yachting centre shall publish

and keep updated all the rules applicable for the use of any of the

facilities of the yachting centre and for safeguarding the good order

of the yachting centre and the safety and security of all persons,

yachts and other craft using its facilities.

(2) The operator of the yachting centre shall publish

and keep updated all the fees applicable for using any of the

facilities of the yachting centre.

(3) Such rules and fees shall be communicated to all

persons, yachts and other craft using the facilities of the yachting

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing

provisions, such rules shall as a minimum include

(a) the speed limit within the yachting centre together

with its fairway and established approaches, and in the

vicinity thereof;

(b) the VHF radio channel to be used for

communicating with the yachting centre;

(c) the contact details and the procedure to be followed

in cases of accidents or emergency situations, including the

contact details of the manager of the yachting centre and the

contact numbers that can be reached at all times;

(d) the applicable procedure for the notification of

the arrival at and the departure from the yachting centre of a

yacht or other craft;

(e) provisions regarding the berthing, mooring and

movement of yachts and other craft within the yachting centre

together with its fairway and established approaches;

(f) provisions regarding the use of the facilities of the

yachting centre;

(g) the requirement to obtain a clear indication of the

person who shall be deemed in charge of a yacht or other craft

which are berthed or moored within the yachting centre, for

the whole period of their stay in the yachting centre;

(h) a clear indication regarding the responsibility for

the safety and security of the yacht or other craft and their

furniture, stores, supplies, machinery or equipment inside the

yachting centre;

(i) a clear indication regarding the responsibility for

any damage caused by the yacht or other craft to any of the

facilities of the yachting centre;

(j) provisions regarding pollution prevention and

response;

(k) provisions regarding the available waste, garbage

and other refuse reception, collection and disposal facilities in

the yachting centre;

(l) provisions regarding the preservation of the marine

environment;

(m) provisions regarding the deposit or leaving on

any quay, wharf, jetty, pier or pontoon of any craft, furniture,

stores, supplies, machinery, equipment or other material,

especially in those areas of the yachting centre which are open

for access by disabled persons or by persons with reduced

mobility or to the general public, blocking the accessibility

thereof;

(n) the periods of the day where the use of engines is

allowed or not allowed in the yachting centre; and

(o) provisions regarding the overall good order in

the yachting centre together with its fairway and established

approaches.

(5) A copy of such rules and fees shall be made

available to the Authority upon request.

(6) The Authority may direct any operator of a

yachting centre to change any or all of its rules, as established

according to the provisions of regulation 11(4), if the Authority

deems this to be necessary to enhance the overall good order in the

yachting centre or the safety and security of the persons or yachts

and other craft using its facilities.

No person shall cause or permit any yacht or other craft

to proceed at a speed in excess of three knots within a yachting

centre or the established approaches thereto.

No person shall obstruct any of the established

approaches of a yachting centre.

Without prejudice to the provisions of these regulations, Obligations of owners

nothing in these regulations shall exonerate the owner, master etc,

or crew of a yacht or other craft, berthed or moored within a

yachting centre, from the consequences of failing to comply with

these regulations or the rules of the yachting centre and from the

responsibility of the seaworthiness of the yacht or other craft, of

the safety of navigation and to take care of the moorings.

The operator of a yachting centre shall provide the

Authority without delay with all statistics and other information

requested by the Authority from time to time, in such format as the

Authority may prescribe.

Any operator of a yachting centre and any other person

who contravenes any of the provisions of these regulations shall

be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to

a fine (multa) not exceeding two thousand (2,000) euro or to

imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both

such fine and imprisonment and, in the case of a continuing

offence, he shall moreover be liable to an additional fine of not

more than two hundred (200) euro for each day during which such

contravention continues.

(1) The provisions of these regulations establishing

offences and punishments in respect thereof shall be without

prejudice to any liability arising under any other law or regulations,

and shall not bar the infliction of further punishments contemplated

by such other law or regulations.

(2) In particular, such provisions as are mentioned in

sub-regulation (1) hereof shall not affect the application of any

higher punishment under any other law or regulations.

Proceedings for an offence against these regulations

shall be taken before the Court of Magistrates (Malta) or the

Court of Magistrates (Gozo), as the case may be, and shall be in

accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code regulating the

procedure before the said courts as courts of criminal judicature.

The Yachting Centres Regulations, 1992 are hereby

being revoked.

1992.

Any obligation, liability, penalty or punishment incurred

under the Yachting Centres Regulations, 1992, or in connection

with any breach of the provisions of those regulations, or any

proceedings or remedy relating to any such obligation, liability,

penalty or punishment, shall not be affected by such revocation.

All permits issued under the Yachting Centres

Regulations, 1992 shall remain in force and valid as if they were

issued under these regulations until their term of validity expires.

€0.93