The Consular Relations (Merchant Shipping) (Kingdom of Greece) Order 1970

Statutory Instruments

1970 No. 1908

MERCHANT SHIPPING

The Consular Relations (Merchant Shipping) (Kingdom of Greece) Order 1970

Made

17th December 1970

Laid before Parliament

23rd December 1970

Coming into Operation

1st January 1971

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 17th day of December 1970

Present,

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, by virtue and in exercise of the powers conferred on Her by sections 4, 6 and 16(2) of the Consular Relations Act 1968 or otherwise in Her Majesty vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—

1.  This Order may be cited as the Consular Relations (Merchant Shipping) (Kingdom of Greece) Order 1970 and shall come into operation on 1st January 1971.

2.—(1) For the purposes of Article 3 of this Order and for the purposes of section 6 of the Consular Relations Act 1968 as applied by virtue of Article 4 of this Order a ship shall be treated as belonging to the Kingdom of Greece if it is registered at a port in the Kingdom of Greece.

(2) Nothing in this Order shall apply to any ship of war.

(3) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of this Order as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

3.  Proceedings relating to the remuneration or any contract of service of the master or a member of the crew of any ship belonging to the Kingdom of Greece shall not be entertained by any court in the United Kingdom unless a consular officer of the Kingdom of Greece has been notified of the intention to invoke the jurisdiction of that court and has not objected within a period of two weeks from that date of such notification and a statement to that effect is included among the details on which the claim is based at the time when the proceedings are commenced.

4.  The Kingdom of Greece is designated for the purposes of section 6 of the Consular Relations Act 1968 (which relates to detention on board ship for disciplinary offences).

W. G. Agnew

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order, which is made pursuant to the Consular Relations Act 1968, provides, in relation to ships (other than ships of war) of the Kingdom of Greece.

(i) for limiting the jurisdiction of the courts of the United Kingdom to entertain proceedings relating to the remuneration or any contract of service of the master or a member of the crew;

(ii) for the detention on board of a member of the crew for a disciplinary offence to be treated as not unlawful except in certain cases.

It gives effect to the relevant provisions of the Consular Convention between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Greece which was signed at Athens on 17th April 1953 (Cmnd. 525).