MERCHANT SHIPPING (CERTIFICATION OF COMMERCIAL YACHTS AND COMMERCIAL CRUISING VESSELS) REGULATIONS

MERCHANT SHIPPING (CERTIFICATION OF COMMERCIAL

[ S.234.45

YACHTS AND COMMERCIAL CRUISING VESSELS)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 234.45

MERCHANT SHIPPING (CERTIFICATION OF

COMMERCIAL YACHTS AND COMMERCIAL

CRUISING VESSELS) REGULATIONS

14th February, 2006

LEGAL NOTICE 38 of 2006.

The title of these rules is the Merchant Shipping

(Certification of Commercial Yachts and Commercial Cruising

Vessels) Regulations.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires -

"the Act" means the Merchant Shipping Act;

"Safety Convention" means The International Convention for the

Safety of Life at Sea signed in London on 1st November, 1974

including any amendment or Protocol related thereto as may from

time to time be ratified, acceded to or accepted by the Government

of Malta and other instruments, standards and specifications of a

mandatory nature related thereto adopted or developed by the

International Maritime Organisation;

"Load Line Convention" means The International Convention on

Load Lines signed in London on 5th April, 1966 including any

amendment or Protocol related thereto as may from time to time be

ratified, acceded to or accepted by the Government of Malta and

other instruments, standards and specifications of a mandatory

nature related thereto adopted or developed by the International

Maritime Organisation.

(1) No Maltese ship may operate in any place as a

commercial yacht, or as a commercial cruising vessel, or in a

similar type of operation for the carriage of persons, and no foreign

ship may operate in, to or from Malta as a commercial yacht, or as a

commercial cruising vessel, or in a similar type of operation for the

carriage of persons, unless such ship is properly certified as being

in compliance, as the case may be, with the Safety and Load Line

Conventions, or with the regulations applicable in the place where

the ship is operating, or with the Code of Practice provided for in

regulation 4.

(2) The Registrar-General or the registrar may refuse to

describe a ship which is being registered, or which is registered

under the Act, as a commercial yacht or as a commercial cruising

vessel if he has reason to believe that such ship cannot or will not

be certified as provided for in subregulation (1).

(1) The Registrar-General shall take the necessary

measures for the development of a Code of Practice relating to the

construction, equipment and operation of commercial yachts or

commercial cruising vessels.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (CERTIFICATION OF COMMERCIAL

YACHTS AND COMMERCIAL CRUISING VESSELS)

(2) In the development of the Code, the Registrar-General shall

be guided by the circulars, clarifications, codes, decisions,

directives, guidelines, instruments, interpretations, manuals,

notices, publications, recommendations, regulations, resolutions,

rules or any other similar medium of the International Maritime

Organisation or any other body or organisation with an appropriate

knowledge or competence on the subject matter.

(3) The Registrar-General shall publish the development of this

Code of Practice by means of a Merchant Shipping Notice and shall

make such Code available to the general public.

(4) The appropriate authority for the issue of any licence in

terms of the Code of Practice shall be the Registrar-General, while

the appropriate authority for the purposes of issuing certificates in

terms of these regulations shall be the Registrar-General, or an

organisation or body authorised in terms of article 367 of the Act or

an official surveyor of ships appointed in terms of that article, duly

authorised by the Registrar-General who shall, subject to the

provisions of these rules and such Convention, determine the

conditions of issue and validity of such certificates.

(1) It shall be the duty of the owner of the company which

has assumed the operation of the ship and of the master to ensure

that the ship is in compliance with the provisions of these

regulations and the requirements leading to the certification of the

ship, and such person, if in fault, shall be liable to the penalties

provided for in the Act, and if no such penalty is provided, such

p e r s o n s h a l l f o r e a c h o f f e n c e b e l i a b l e t o a f i n e ( multa) not

exceeding 1,000 units.

(2) A ship that is not in compliance with the requirements of

these regulations and the requirements leading to the certification

of the ship may, for the purposes of article 282 of the Act, be

considered to be an unseaworthy ship or unsafe ship or in an

unseaworthy state.