The Ship and Port Facility (Security) (Amendment) Regulations 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Ship and Port Facility (Security) Regulations 2004 (“the 2004 Regulations”) to correct defects in the 2004 Regulations. Accordingly these Regulations are being provided free of charge to all known recipients of the 2004 Regulations.

The 2004 Regulations implemented, so far as was necessary to do so, Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004, which introduced and implemented Community measures aimed at enhancing ship and port facility security. The EC Regulation also provided a basis for the harmonised interpretation and implementation and Community monitoring of the special measures to enhance maritime security adopted by the Diplomatic Conference of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on 12 December 2002, which amended the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and established the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS). The relevant amendments to the SOLAS Convention are set out in Chapter X1-2 of the Convention.

Regulation 2(2) amends regulation 1 of the 2004 Regulations to bring all remaining provisions of the 2004 Regulations into force on 1 July 2005.

Regulation 2(3) amends four regulations in the 2004 Regulations, (concerning inspections, detentions, offences and enforcement notices) to provide that the maximum penalty on summary conviction for an offence under those Regulations will be the statutory maximum.

Regulation 2(4) inserts a new subparagraph 3A into regulations 10 and 11 to provide that certain conduct in relation to restricted areas on ships or port facilities will not be an offence unless it is proved that, at the material time, notices stating that the area concerned was a restricted area were posted so as to be readily seen and read by persons entering the area.

Regulation 2(5) amends regulation 16(2) of the 2004 Regulations by revising the grounds for objecting to an enforcement notice.

Copies of the SOLAS Convention and the ISPS Code may be obtained from the International Maritime Organisation at 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument because it has no impact on the costs of business, charities or voluntary bodies.