YACHTING CENTRES REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 499.10

YACHTING CENTRES REGULATIONS

1st January, 2011 *

LEGAL NOTICE 103 of 2011.

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

Regulations.

(2) 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

es t a b l i s h e d u n d e r t h e A c t , a n d i t s h a l l i n c l u d e an y p e r s o n

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.

*See regulation 1(2) of these Regulations, as originally promulgated.

YACHTING CENTRES

(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

(a) the preservation of good order in the yachting 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

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

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;

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

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

YACHTING CENTRES

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 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

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 centre.

(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 sub-regulation (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,

nothing in these regulations shall exonerate the owner, master 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 euro (€2,000) 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 euro (€200) 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) 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.

* 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.

*As originally promulgated, this regulation was numbered regulation 20. The original

regulation 19 has been omitteed under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.

†Revoked by these regulations.

‡As originally promulgated, this regulation was numbered regulation 21. The original

regulation 19 has been omitteed under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.

Ir-regolament 19 oriāinali āie mħolli barra skont l-Att tal-1980 dwar ir-ReviŜjoni

tal-Liāijiet Statutarji.