The Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances and Arrangements) Regulations 2020

Interpretation U.K.

2.  In these Regulations—

“Category A, B, C or D waters” means the waters specified as such in Merchant Shipping Notice 1837(M) Amendment 2(1);

“Chapter III” means Chapter III in the Annex to the Convention (relating to life-saving appliances and arrangements)(2);

“Convention” means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974(3);

“fishing vessel” means a ship used for catching fish, whales, seals, walrus or other living resources of the sea;

“international voyage” means a voyage between—

(a)

a port in the United Kingdom and a port outside the United Kingdom; or

(b)

a port in a Convention country (other than the United Kingdom) and a port in any other country or territory (whether a Convention country or not) which is outside the United Kingdom,

and, for the purposes of paragraph (b), “Convention country” means a country or territory which is either a country the Government of which is party to the Convention or a territory to which the Convention extends whether or not it is subject to the amendments to, or reservations in respect of, the Convention;

“long international voyage” means an international voyage which is not a short international voyage;

“Merchant Shipping Notice” means a notice described as such and issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (an executive agency of the Department for Transport) and includes a reference to any document amending or replacing that notice which is considered by the Secretary of State to be relevant from time to time and is specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice;

“mile” means a nautical mile of 1,852 metres;

“new ship” means a ship the keel of which is laid, or which is at a similar stage of construction, on or after 1st July 1998;

[F1 “Part B of Chapter III” means Part B of Chapter III other than regulation 27 of that Part (information on passengers)];

“passenger” is a person other than—

(a)

the master and the members of the crew or other persons employed or engaged in any capacity on board a ship on the business of that ship; or

(b)

a child under 1 year of age;

“passenger ship” is a ship which carries more than 12 passengers;

“pleasure vessel” means—

(a)

any vessel which at the time it is being used is—

(i)

in the case of a vessel wholly owned by–

(aa)

an individual or individuals, used only for the sport or pleasure of the owner or the immediate family or friends of the owner; or

(bb)

a body corporate, used only for sport or pleasure and on which the persons on board are employees or officers of the body corporate, or their immediate family or friends; and

(ii)

on a voyage or excursion which is one for which the owner does not receive money for or in connection with operating the vessel or carrying any person, other than as a contribution to the direct expenses of the operation of the vessel incurred during the voyage or excursion; or

(b)

any vessel wholly owned by or on behalf of a members’ club formed for the purpose of sport or pleasure which, at the time it is being used, is used only for the sport or pleasure of members of that club or their immediate family, and for the use of which any charges levied are paid into club funds and applied for the general use of the club,

where, in the case of any vessel referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b), no other payments are made by or on behalf of users of the vessel, other than by the owner; and in this definition “immediate family” means, in relation to an individual, the spouse or civil partner of the individual, and a relative of the individual or the individual’s spouse or civil partner; and “relative” means brother, sister, ancestor or lineal descendant;

“sea” includes any estuary or arm of the sea but does not include Category A, B, C or D waters;

“short international voyage” means an international voyage—

(a)

in the course of which a ship is not more than 200 miles from a port or place in which the passengers and crew could be placed in safety; and

(b)

which does not exceed 600 miles in distance between the last port of call in the country in which the voyage begins and the final port of destination,

and, for the purposes of paragraph (b), the final port of destination is the last port of call in the scheduled voyage at which the ship commences its return voyage to the country in which the voyage began;

“similar stage of construction” means the stage at which—

(a)

construction identifiable with a specific ship begins; and

(b)

assembly of that ship has commenced comprising at least 50 tons or 1% of the estimated mass of all structural material, whichever is less.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 2 inserted (10.8.2023) by The Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/787), regs. 1(1), 4

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 2 in force at 9.6.2020, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

Merchant Shipping Notice 1837(M) Amendment 2 is available on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/msn-1837-m-amendment-2-categorisation-of-waters, and in hard copy from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG (telephone [phone] and email [e-mail]).

(2)

Chapter III was revised and replaced by International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution MSC.47(66) (Cm 4064) and has been further amended by IMO Resolutions MSC.91(72) (Cm 9698), MSC.134(76) (Cm 6587), MSC.152(78) (Cm 7205), MSC.170(79), MSC.201(81), MSC.216(82), MSC.256(84), MSC.317(89), MSC.325(90), MSC.338(91), MSC.350(92), MSC.404(96) and MSC.421(98). The amendments to Chapter III are available from the International Maritime Organization of 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR or found on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office treaties database (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/responsive/app/consolidatedSearch/). See footnote (c) for further information on the Convention.

(3)

Cmnd 7874. The Convention may be obtained in copy from the International Maritime Organization of 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR or found on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office treaties database (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/awweb/pdfopener?md=1&did=79786). The Convention was modified by its Protocol of 1978 (Cmnd. 8277) (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/awweb/pdfopener?md=1&did=68013), which was replaced and abrogated by the Protocol of 1988 (Cm 5044) (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/awweb/pdfopener?md=1&did=69573) with respect to the parties to the 1988 Protocol. The amendments to the Convention are available from the International Maritime Organization of 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR or found on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office treaties database (https://treaties.fco.gov.uk/responsive/app/consolidatedSearch/). Hard copies of the Command Papers are available for inspection free of charge but by appointment at the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London SW1A 0PW. The Parliamentary Archives catalogue numbers for the Command Papers are HL/PO/JO/10/11/2031/2878 (Cmnd 7874), HL/PO/JO/10/11/1959/2032 (Cmnd 8277) and HL/PO/JO/10/11/3156/2280 (Cm 5044).