4. The Secretary of State may exempt classes of ships or individual ships from the provisions of these Regulations, subject to such conditions as he may specify, and may on giving reasonable notice alter or cancel any exemption so granted. In particular he may exempt from any of the requirements of these Regulations—
(a)any ship the keel of which was laid, or which was at a similar stage of construction before 25th May 1980, or any other ship which was converted to a passenger ship before that date, to the extent that he is satisfied that compliance therewith is unreasonable or impracticable in the circumstances;
(b)any ship of Class II or II(A) which does not proceed more than 20 miles from the nearest land, to the extent that he is satisfied that compliance therewith is unreasonable or unnecessary by reason of the sheltered nature and conditions of the intended services of the ship;
(c)any ship which is not normally engaged on international voyages but which, in exceptional circumstances is required to undertake a single international voyage, provided that it complies with safety requirements which are adequate for the voyage which is to be undertaken by the ship;
(d)any ship which embodies features of a novel kind, if the application might seriously impede research into the development of such features and their incorporation in ships engaged on international voyages. Any such ship shall, however, comply with safety requirements which are adequate for the service for which it is intended and are such as to ensure the overall safety of the ship;
(e)any ship of Class I or II employed in special trades for the carriage of large numbers of special trade passengers, such as the pilgrim trade, provided that it complies fully with the provisions of—
(a)the Final Act of the International Conference on Special Trade Passenger Ships 1971(1); or
(b)the Protocol on Space Requirements for Special Trade Passenger Ships 1973(2); and
(f)pleasure vessels.
Cmnd. 5103.
Cmnd. 5530.