The Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger Ships) Regulations 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations revoke and replace the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Boarding Cards) Regulations 1988, the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Boarding Cards) (Application to non-UK Ships) Regulations 1988 and the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Counting and Recording Systems) Regulations 1990.

The Regulations implement Council Directive 98/41/EC on the registration of persons sailing on board passenger ships operating to or from ports of the member States of the Community and Chapter III, regulation 24–2 of the annex to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (SOLAS), as amended by the Conference of the Contracting Governments to SOLAS on 28 November 1995.

The principal changes from the provisions of the revoked Regulations are:

(i) the requirement to have a system capable of counting all persons on board is applied to Class I ships (regulation 4);

(ii) the requirement to collect specified information for ships departing on voyages of more than 20 miles from a UK port or, in respect of a UK passenger ship leaving a port outside the European Community, on international voyages (regulation 6); and

(iii) the requirement to establish a passenger registrar by ship owners, who will be responsible for holding the information collected and transmitting it to the appropriate search and rescue services in the event of an emergency (regulation 8).

A compliance cost assessment has been produced and a copy placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG (telephone: [phone]).

Merchant Shipping Notices may be obtained from Eros Marketing Support Services, Delta House, Imber Court Trading Estate, Orchard Lane, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 0BN. Copies of SOLAS may be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation, 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.