Merchant Shipping Act 1979

37 Amendments of ss. 15, 43, 52, 54, 76(1), 92 and 101(4) of Merchant Shipping Act 1970 and s. 23 of the Prevention of Oil Pollution Act 1971

(1) Section 15 of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which among other things provides that where a seaman's employment in a ship ends because the ship is wrecked or lost or is sold abroad or ceases to be registered in the United Kingdom he shall in certain cases be entitled to wages for two months after the ending of the employment) shall apply to a master as it applies to a seaman; and in subsection (1) of that section (which makes the wages payable in the case of wreck or loss unless it is proved that the seaman did not make reasonable efforts to save the ship and the persons and property carried on it) the words from " unless " onwards shall be omitted.

(2) The power to make regulations conferred by section 43 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which authorises the Secretary of State to make regulations requiring certain ships to carry the number specified in the regulations of officers and other seamen who are qualified in accordance with the regulations) shall include power to make regulations providing that existing certificates shall, except in such cases as are specified in the regulations, be deemed for the purposes of such of the provisions of that Act as are so specified to be issued in pursuance of that section and to confer on the persons to whom they were issued such qualifications for the purposes of that section as are so specified.

(3) In the preceding subsection " existing certificate " means a certificate granted in pursuance of section 93, 99 or 414 of the [1894 c. 60.] Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (which relate to certificates of competency or service as masters, mates and engineers and as skippers and second hands of fishing boats), a certificate referred to in an Order in Council made by virtue of section 102 of that Act (which relates to Commonwealth certificates of competency), a certificate granted in pursuance of subsection (2) of section 27 of the [1906 c. 48.] Merchant Shipping Act 1906 or by an institution approved in pursuance of that subsection (which relates to cooks) and a certificate granted in pursuance of section 5 of the [1948 c. 44.] Merchant Shipping Act 1948 (which relates to seamen who may be rated as A.B.).

(4) At the end of sections 52(3) and 54(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which respectively make provision for the rules which are to govern inquiries into the fitness or conduct of officers and of seamen other than officers) there shall be inserted the words " ; and the persons holding the inquiry shall for the purpose of the inquiry have the powers conferred on an inspector by section 27 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979. ".

(5) In section 76(1) of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which enables inspections to be carried out for the purpose of seeing that the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts and regulations and rules made under those Acts are complied with)—

(a) references to the Merchant Shipping Acts shall include references to this Act and,

(b) after the words "regulations and rules made thereunder " there shall be inserted the words " or that the terms of any approval, licence, consent, direction or exemption given by virtue of such regulations ".

(6) Without prejudice to the operation of section 50(1) of this Act, in section 92 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which among other things enables provisions of that Act to be extended to unregistered British ships) the references to that Act shall be construed as including references to sections 23 and 25 of this Act.

(7) At the end of section 101(4) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (which authorises the appointment of different days for the coming into force of different provisions of that Act) there shall be inserted the words " or for different purposes of the same provision ".

(8) In section 23 of the [1971 c. 60.] Prevention of Oil Pollution Act 1971 (which among other things authorises the Secretary of State to exempt from provisions of that Act certain discharges of crude oil produced as a result of operations for exploring the seabed or for exploiting its resources) for the words from " crude oil" onwards there shall be substituted the word " oil ".