Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1977

4 Commencement and transitional provisions.

(1) This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint.

(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that for such purposes, for such a period and subject to such conditions as may be specified by or under the regulations—

(a) any country which, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was a country to which the 1960 Convention applied shall be treated for the purposes of the 1949 Act and the 1964 Act as if it were a country to which the 1974 Convention applies; and

(b) any certificate which, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was an accepted Safety Convention certificate within the meaning of the 1949 Act, as amended by the 1964 Act, may be treated as if it were an accepted Safety Convention certificate within the meaning of the 1949 Act, as amended by this Act.

(3) The reference in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) above to a certificate which, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was an accepted Safety Convention certificate within the meaning of the 1949 Act, as amended by the 1964 Act, includes a reference to a certificate which—

(a) purports to have been issued in accordance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1948 in respect of a ship registered outside the United Kingdom; and

(b) immediately before the commencement of this Act was treated by virtue of regulations under the 1964 Act as an accepted Convention certificate within the meaning of that Act and the 1949 Act.