Merchant Shipping Act 1970

Manning and certification

43 Manning

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the Board of Trade may make regulations—

(a) requiring ships to which this section applies to carry such number of qualified officers of any description, qualified doctors and qualified cooks and such number of other seamen or qualified seamen of any description as may be specified in the regulations; and

(b) prescribing or enabling the Board of Trade to specify standards of competence to be attained and other conditions to be satisfied (subject to any exceptions allowed by or under the regulations) by officers and other seamen of any description in order to be qualified for the purposes of this section.

(2) The Board of Trade shall not exercise their power to make regulations requiring ships to carry seamen other than doctors and cooks except to the extent that it appears to them necessary or expedient in the interests of safety.

(3) Regulations under this section may make different provision for different descriptions of ship or for ships of the same description in different circumstances.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, the conditions prescribed or specified under that paragraph may include conditions as to nationality, and regulations made for the purposes of that paragraph may make provision, or enable the Board of Trade to make provision, for—

(a) the manner in which the attainment of any standard or the satisfaction of any other condition is to be evidenced;

(b) the conduct of any examinations, the conditions for admission to them and the appointment and remuneration of examiners; and

(c) the issue, form and recording of certificates and other documents;

and different provisions may be so made or enabled to be made for different circumstances.

(5) If a person makes a statement which he knows to be false or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular for the purpose of obtaining for himself or another person a certificate or other document which may be issued under this section he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

44 Power to exempt from manning requirements

(1) The Board of Trade may exempt any ship or description of ship from any requirements of regulations made under section 43 of this Act.

(2) An exemption given under this section may be confined to a particular period or to one or more particular voyages.

45 Prohibition of going to sea undermanned

Subject to section 44 of this Act, if a ship to which this section applies goes to sea or attempts to go to sea without carrying such officers and other seamen as it is required to carry under section 43 of this Act the owner or master shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200 and the ship, if in the United Kingdom, may be detained.

46 Unqualified persons going to sea as qualified officers or seamen

(1) If a person goes to sea as a qualified officer or seaman of any description without being such a qualified officer or seaman he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

(2) In this section " qualified " means qualified for the purposes of section 43 of this Act.

47 Production of certificates and other documents of qualification

Any person serving or engaged to serve in any ship to which this section applies and holding any certificate or other document which is evidence that he is qualified for the purposes of section 43 of this Act shall on demand produce it to any superintendent, surveyor or proper officer and (if he is not himself the master) to the master of the ship ; and if he fails to do so without reasonable cause he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £20.

48 Crew's knowledge of English

(1) Where in the opinion of a superintendent or proper officer the crew of a ship to which this section applies consists of or includes persons who may not understand orders given to them in the course of their duty because of their insufficient knowledge of English and the absence of adequate arrangements for transmitting the orders in a language of which they have sufficient knowledge, then—

(a) if the superintendent or proper officer has informed the master of that opinion the ship shall not go to sea; and

(b) if the ship is in the United Kingdom it may be detained.

(2) If a ship goes to sea or attempts to go to sea in contravention of this section the owner or master shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

49 Application of sections 43, 45, 47 and 48

Sections 43, 45, 47 and 48 of this Act apply to every ship registered in the United Kingdom and also to any ship registered elsewhere which carries passengers—

(a) between places in the United Kingdom or between the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands; or

(b) on a voyage which begins and ends at the same place in the United Kingdom and on which the ship calls at no place outside the United Kingdom.

50 Special certificates of competency

(1) The Board of Trade may issue and record documents certifying the attainment of any standard of competence relating to ships or their operation, notwithstanding that the standard is not among those prescribed or specified under section 43(1)(b) of this Act; and may, in relation thereto, make regulations for purposes corresponding to those mentioned in section 43(4) of this Act.

(2) If a person makes a statement which he knows to be false or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular for the purpose of obtaining for himself or another person a document which may be issued under this section he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

51 Restriction on employment of persons under 18 on board ship

(1) A person under school-leaving age shall not be employed in any ship registered in the United Kingdom except as permitted by regulations under this section.

(2) The Board of Trade may make regulations—

(a) prescribing circumstances in which and conditions subject to which persons under school-leaving age who have attained such age as may be specified in the regulations may be employed in a ship in such capacities as may be so specified ;

(b) prescribing circumstances and capacities in which per sons over school-leaving age but under the age of eighteen or under such lower age as may be specified in the regulations must not be employed in a ship registered in the United Kingdom or may be so employed only subject to such conditions as may be specified in the regulations.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of this section may make different provision for different employments and different descriptions of ship and any other different circumstances.

(4) If any person is employed in a ship in contravention of this section or if any condition subject to which a person may be employed under regulations made for the purposes of this section is not complied with, the owner or master shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

(5) For the purposes of this section a person employed in a ship shall be deemed to be over school-leaving age if he has, and under school-leaving age if he has not, attained the age which is the upper limit of the compulsory school age (in Scotland school age) under the enactments relating to education in the part of the United Kingdom in which he entered into the agreement under which he is so employed or, if he entered into that agreement outside the United Kingdom or is employed otherwise than under an agreement, under the enactments relating to education in England and Wales ; and if he is treated for the purposes of those enactments as not having attained that age he shall be so treated also for the purposes of this section.