The Fishing Vessels (Working Time: Sea-fishermen) Regulations 2004

Interpretation U.K.

2.—(1) In these Regulations–

“the Act” means the Merchant Shipping Act 1995;

“collective agreement” means a collective agreement within the meaning of section 178 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 M1 , the trade union parties to which are independent trade unions within the meaning of section 5 of that Act;

“employer”, in relation to a worker, means the person by whom the worker is (or, where the employment has ceased, was) employed;

“employment”, in relation to a worker, means employment under his contract of employment, and “employed” shall be construed accordingly;

[F1 “fisherman” means every person employed, engaged or working in any capacity on board any fishing vessel, but does not include a person solely engaged as a pilot for the vessel;

“fishing vessel owner” means the owner of the fishing vessel or any other organisation or person such as the manager, agent or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the vessel from the owner;]

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

“Merchant Shipping Notice” means a notice described as such and issued by the MCA;

“night time” means a period–

(a)

the duration of which is not less than seven hours, and

(b)

which includes the period between midnight and 5 a.m. (local time),

which is determined for the purposes of these Regulations by a relevant agreement, or, in default of such a determination, the period between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. (local time);

“night work” means work during night time;

“night worker” means a worker–

(a)

who, as a normal course, works at least three hours of his daily working time during night time, or

(b)

who is likely, during night time, to work at least such proportion of his annual working time as may be specified for the purposes of these Regulations in a collective agreement or a workforce agreement,

and, for the purpose of paragraph (a) of this definition, a person works hours as a normal course (without prejudice to the generality of that expression) if he works such hours on the majority of days on which he works;

“relevant agreement”, in relation to a worker, means a workforce agreement which applies to him, any provision of a collective agreement which forms part of a contract between him and his employer, or any other agreement in writing which is legally enforceable as between the worker and his employer;

“relevant inspector” means a person mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 258(1) of the Act;

“relevant training” means work experience provided pursuant to a training course or programme, training for employment, or both, other than work experience or training–

(a)

the immediate provider of which is an educational institution or a person whose main business is the provision of training, and

(b)

which is provided on a course run by that institution or person;

“rest period” means a period which is not working time, other than a rest break or leave to which the worker is entitled under these Regulations;

“United Kingdom fishing vessel” means a sea-going fishing vessel which is registered in the United Kingdom;

“worker” means a person employed (or, where the employment has ceased, who was employed) on board a fishing vessel;

“workforce agreement” means an agreement between an employer and workers employed by him or their representatives in respect of which the conditions set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations are satisfied; and

“working time”, in relation to a worker, means–

(a)

any period during which he is working, at his employer’s disposal and carrying out his activity or duties, and

(b)

any period during which he is receiving relevant training,

and “work” shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Subject to paragraph (1), words and expressions used in these Regulations shall have the same meaning as in Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time M2 .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (31.12.2018) by The Merchant Shipping (Work in Fishing Convention) (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1109), regs. 1(2), 8(2)

Marginal Citations

M1 1992 c. 52 The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 has been amended but the amendments are not relevant.

M2 OJ No. L 307, 13.12.1993, p.18; amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, OJ No. L 195, 1.8.2000, p.41.