MERCHANT SHIPPING (COUNTING AND REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD PASSENGER SHIPS) REGULATIONS

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD PASSENGER

SHIPS)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 234.58

MERCHANT SHIPPING (COUNTING AND

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD

PASSENGER SHIPS) REGULATIONS

21st December, 2019

LEGAL NOTICE 346 of 2019.

(1)

The title of these regulations is the Merchant

Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger

Ships) Regulations.

(2)

These regulations transpose the measures contained in

Directive (EU) 2017/2109 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 15 November 2017 amending Council Directive 98/41/EC

on the registration of persons sailing on board passenger ships

operating to or from ports of the Member States of the Community and

Directive 2010/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from

ports of the Member States.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires

"the Act" means the Merchant Shipping Act;

"company" means the owner of a passenger ship or any

other organisation or person such as the manager or the

bareboat charterer, who has assumed responsibility for

operating the passenger ship from the owner;

"Directive 98/41/EC" means Council Directive 98/41/EC

of 18 June 1998 on the registration of persons sailing on board

passenger ships operating to or from ports of the Member States

of the Community, in its up-to-date version;

"Directive 2009/45/E" means Directive 2009/45/EC of

the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on

safety rules and standards for passenger ships, in its up-to-date

version;

"Directive 2010/65/EU" means Directive 2010/65/EU of

the European Parliament of the Council of 20 October 2010 on

reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from

ports of the Member States and repealing Directive 2002/6/EC,

in its up-to-date version;

"EU Member State" means a Member State of the

European Union (including, for the avoidance of doubt, Malta)

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD PASSENGER

SHIPS)

or of the European Economic Area;

"Maltese passenger ship" means a passenger ship which is

a Maltese ship registered in terms of Article 3(1) of the Act;

"passenger ship" means a ship or a high-speed craft which

carries more than 12 passengers;

"Registrar-General" means the Registrar-General of

Shipping and Seamen appointed in terms of article 363 of the

Act.

(2)

Unless otherwise defined in the Act or in these

regulations, or unless the context otherwise requires, words and

expressions used in these regulations shall have the same meaning

assigned to them in Directive 98/41/EC.

These regulations shall apply to Maltese passenger ships,

with the exception of

(a)

ships of war and troop ships;

(b)

pleasure yachts and pleasure craft;

(c)

ships exclusively engaged in port areas.

(1)

The company shall ensure that all persons on board

a Maltese passenger ship which departs from a port located in an EU

Member State are counted before that passenger ship departs.

(2)

Before the passenger ship departs, the number of persons

on board shall be communicated to the master of the ship and, either

reported by appropriate technical means in the single window

established pursuant to Article 5 of Directive 2010/65/EU, or

communicated to the Registrar-General by means of the Automatic

Identification System

Provided that, by derogation from the aforementioned

paragraph, such information may continue to be communicated to the

company's passenger registrar or to the shore-based company system

that performs the same function, until 20 December 2023.

(1)

Where a Maltese passenger ship departs from a

port located in an EU Member State in order to undertake a voyage of

which the distance sailed from the point of departure to the next port of

call exceeds twenty miles, the following information shall be recorded

(a)

the family names of the persons on board, their

forenames, their gender, their nationality, their dates of birth;

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD PASSENGER

SHIPS)

(b)

when volunteered by a passenger, information

concerning special care or assistance that might be needed in an

emergency;

(c)

when volunteered by the passenger, a contact

number in case of an emergency.

(2)

The information listed in sub-regulation 1 shall be

collected before the passenger ship's departure and reported in the

single window established pursuant to Article 5 of Directive 2010/65/

EU upon the passenger ship's departure but in no case later than fifteen

minutes after its departure

Provided that, by derogation from the aforementioned

paragraph, such information may continue to be communicated to the

company's passenger registrar or to the shore-based company system

that performs the same function, until 20 December 2023.

(3)

Without prejudice to other legal obligations on data

protection, personal data collected for the purposes of these

regulations shall not be processed and used for any other purpose.

Such personal data shall always be handled in accordance with the

applicable data protection and privacy legislation and shall be erased

automatically and without undue delay once it is no longer needed.

(1)

In respect of every Maltese passenger ship, which

departs form a port located outside an EU Member State which is

bound for a port located within an EU Member State, the company

shall ensure that the information specified in regulations 4(1) and 5(1)

is provided in accordance with regulations 4(2) and 5(2).

Before a Maltese passenger ship departs form a port

located in an EU Member State, its master shall ensure that the number

of persons on board does not exceed the number the passenger ship is

permitted to carry.

(1)

Each company assuming responsibility for

operating a Maltese passenger ship shall, where required under

regulations 4 and 5 of these regulations, appoint a passenger registrar

responsible for reporting the information referred to in those

provisions in the single window established pursuant to Article 5 of

Directive 2010/65/EU or to the Registrar-General by means of the

Automatic Identification System.

(2)

Personal data collected in accordance with regulation 5

of these regulations shall be kept by the company no longer than is

necessary for the purposes of these regulations, and in any event only

until the moment the ship's voyage in question has been safely

completed and the data has been reported in the single window

REGISTRATION OF PERSONS ON BOARD PASSENGER

SHIPS)

established pursuant to Article 5 of Directive 2010/65/EU. Without

prejudice to other specific legal obligations, including for statistical

purposes, once the information is no longer needed for this purpose, it

shall be erased automatically and without undue delay.

(3)

Each company shall ensure that information concerning

passengers who have declared a need for special care or assistance in

emergency situations is properly recorded and communicated to the

master before the passenger ship departs.

(1)

Companies shall establish and keep in place a

procedure for data registration which guarantees that information

required by these regulations is reported in an accurate and timely

manner.

(2)

The Registrar-General, shall have access to

the

information required under these regulations, when so required.

(3)

Personal data collected in accordance with regulation 5

shall be retained no longer than is necessary for the purposes of these

regulations, and in any event, no longer than

(a)

until the moment the ship's voyage in question has

been safely completed, but in any case not longer than 60 days

after the ship's departure; or

(b)

in the event of emergency or in the aftermath of an

accident, until any investigation or judiciary proceedings have

been completed.

(4)

Without prejudice to other specific legal obligations,

including obligations for statistical purposes, once the information is

no longer needed for the purposes of these regulations, it shall be

erased automatically and without undue delay.

(1)

For the purposes of these regulations, the required

data shall be collected and recorded in such a way that no undue delay

is caused for passengers embarking or disembarking the vessel.

(2)

A multiplicity of data collection on the same or similar

routes shall be avoided.

The processing of personal data pursuant to these

regulations shall be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU)

2016/679, as implemented by the Data Protection Act.

Any 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 units.