1.A Member State may decide to postpone the inspection of a Priority I ship in the following circumstances:
(a)if the inspection may be carried out at the next call of the ship in the same Member State, provided that the ship does not call at any other port in the Community or the Paris MOU region in between and the postponement is not more than 15 days; or
(b)if the inspection may be carried out in another port of call within the Community or the Paris MOU region within 15 days, provided the State in which such port of call is located has agreed in advance to perform the inspection.
If an inspection is postponed in accordance with point (a) or (b) and recorded in the inspection database, a missed inspection shall not be counted as a missed inspection against the Member States which postponed the inspection.
Nevertheless, where an inspection of a Priority I ship is not performed, the relevant ship shall not be exempted from being inspected at the next port of call within the Community in accordance with this Directive.
2.Where an inspection is not performed on Priority I ships for operational reasons, it shall not be counted as a missed inspection, provided that the reason for missing the inspection is recorded in the inspection database and the following exceptional circumstances occur:
(a)in the judgement of the competent authority the conduct of the inspection would create a risk to the safety of inspectors, the ship, its crew or to the port, or to the marine environment; or
(b)the ship call takes place only during night time. In this case Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that ships which call regularly during night time are inspected as appropriate.
3.If an inspection is not performed on a ship at anchorage, it shall not be counted as a missed inspection if:
(a)the ship is inspected in another port or anchorage within the Community or the Paris MOU region in accordance with Annex I within 15 days; or
(b)the ship call takes place only during night time or its duration is too short for the inspection to be carried out satisfactorily, and the reason for missing the inspection is recorded in the inspection database; or
(c)in the judgement of the competent authority the conduct of the inspection would create a risk to the safety of inspectors, the ship, its crew or to the port, or to the marine environment, and the reason for missing the inspection is recorded in the inspection database.
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