The Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2018

Citation, commencement and expiry

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2018 and come into force on 13th November 2018.

(2) They cease to have effect at the end of the period of seven years beginning with the day on which they come into force.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Merchant Shipping Act 1995;

“the Agency” means the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Transport;

“inspection” includes audit, survey and test;

“issue” includes amendment, endorsement, re-issue and renewal;

“local office” means—

(i)

one of the Agency’s Marine Offices(1),

(ii)

an office of the Marine Management Organisation(2),

(iii)

an office of Marine Scotland(3), or

(iv)

an office of the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland(4);

“premium service”, in relation to a fee, means a service performed for an applicant attending in person at a local office or at the office where the register of British ships is kept;

“standard hourly rate” means—

(i)

£120 per hour in respect of any work carried out after 12th November 2018 and before 13th November 2019, and

(ii)

£147 per hour in respect of any work carried out after 12th November 2019; and

“vessel” has the same meaning as “ship” in the Act.

Fees payable to the Agency

3.—(1) The fee payable in respect of a service or other function described in Schedule 1 is the fee—

(a) specified in that Schedule in relation to that service or function, or

(b) otherwise determined under that Schedule.

(2) Where a fee is payable in respect of the issue of a certificate, the Agency is not required to issue the certificate until that fee has been paid.

Payment for travel, subsistence and other expenses

4.—(1) Where a fee is determined by reference to the amount of work involved, the fee includes an amount for the time spent travelling, except that travelling time in excess of —

(a) 4 hours for each visit to a ship in the United Kingdom, and

(b) 10 hours in any period of 24 hours for travel from the United Kingdom to a ship located abroad and back to the United Kingdom,

is to be disregarded.

(2) The reasonable cost of travel and subsistence incurred in visiting a ship outside the United Kingdom is to be reimbursed to the Agency in addition to the fee payable under these Regulations.

(3) Paragraph (4) applies to expenses reasonably incurred in respect of any assistance provided to the Agency by a person not employed by it.

(4) To the extent that the expenses referred to in paragraph (3) relate to a service or function of the Agency for which a fee is payable under these Regulations, they are to be reimbursed to the Agency in addition to that fee.

Transitional provisions

5.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), where an application for a service or other function for which a fee is payable under these Regulations is made before the day they come into force, but the service or function is provided on or after that date, the fee payable in respect of that service or function is the fee prescribed immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies where—

(a) an application for a service or other function is made before these Regulations come into force,

(b) the fee payable in respect of that service or function is to be calculated by reference to an hourly rate, and

(c) any work to conduct that service or function is carried out after these Regulations come into force.

(3) The hourly rates prescribed under these Regulations apply for the purpose of calculating—

(a) the fee in respect of the service or other function carried out after the date these Regulations come into force, and

(b) any additional fee which becomes payable under Part 14 of Schedule 1 by reason of an event occurring after that date.

Revocation

6.  The Regulations specified in Schedule 2 are revoked.

Amendments

7.—(1) In each of the regulations specified in paragraph (2), for “Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2006” substitute “Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2018”.

(2) The regulations specified for the purposes of paragraph (1) are—

(a) regulations 11(1) and 13(1)(b) of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution From Ships) Regulations 2008(5),

(b) regulations 11(1) and 13(1)(b) of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Sewage and Garbage from Ships) Regulations 2008(6),

(c) regulation 8(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ships) Safety Code for UK Categorised Waters) Regulations 2010(7),

(d) regulation 22(3) of the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2011(8), and

(e) regulations 15(1)(c) and 17(2) of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution from Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk) Regulations 2018(9).

Review

8.—(1) The Secretary of State must—

(a) carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations, and

(b) publish a report setting out the conclusions of the review.

(2) The report must be published before 13th November 2023.

(3) Section 30(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(10) requires that the report published under this regulation must, in particular—

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision referred to in paragraph (1)(a),

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d) if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way which involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(4) In this regulation, “regulatory provision” has the same meaning as in sections 28 to 32 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (see section 32 of that Act).

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Nusrat Ghani

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Transport

16th October 2018

We consent to the making of these Regulations

Mike Freer

Rebecca Harris

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

16th October 2018