Section 36(3) of the Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act, 1932 (which gave effect to an International Safety Convention of 1929) gives Her Majesty power by Order in Council to direct that provisions of Part I of the Act of 1932 expressed to apply to British ships registered in the United Kingdom shall apply to British ships registered in other parts of Her Majesty's overseas territories to which that Act can be extended.

Section 30 of the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1949 (which gives effect to a new Convention of 1948, intended to supersede that of 1929), provides that the reference in section 36 of the Act of 1932 to Part I of that Act is to include a reference to the Act of 1949.

This Order provides that sections 3, 12, 19 and 22 of the Act of 1949 shall apply to British ships registered in Singapore.