Merchant Shipping Act 1988 (repealed)

38 Amendments of Part III of Merchant Shipping Act 1974. U.K.

(1) Part III of the M1 Merchant Shipping Act 1974 (protection of shipping and trading interests) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In section 14 (foreign action affecting shipping), the following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (1)—

“(1) The Secretary of State may exercise the powers conferred by this section if he is satisfied that—

(a) a foreign government, or

(b) persons purporting to exercise governing authority over any territory outside the United Kingdom, or

(c) any agency or authority of a foreign government or of such persons,

have adopted, or propose to adopt, measures or practices concerning or affecting any shipping services which—

(i) are damaging or threaten to damage the shipping or trading interests of the United Kingdom, or

(ii) are damaging or threaten to damage the shipping or trading interests of another State,

and, in the latter case, the Secretary of State is satisfied that action under this section would be in fulfilment of the obligations of the United Kingdom to that other State or would be appropriate in view of any arrangements made between Her Majesty’s Government and the government of that other State.”

(3) The following subsection shall be substituted for section 14(3)—

“(3) The Secretary of State may by order provide for—

(a) regulating the provision of any shipping services and the rates, fares or other amounts which may or must be charged for providing those services;

(b) regulating—

(i) the admission and departure of ships to and from United Kingdom ports,

(ii) the nature of the shipping services they may be used to provide (whether by reference to the cargoes or passengers they may carry or otherwise), and

(iii) the loading or unloading of cargoes, the embarkation or disembarkation of passengers, or the doing of other things in connection with the provision of any shipping services;

(c) regulating the making and implementation of agreements (including charter-parties) whose subject matter relates directly or indirectly to the provision of any shipping services, and requiring such agreements to be subject to the Secretary of State’s approval in such cases as he may specify;

(d) imposing charges in respect of ships which enter United Kingdom ports in connection with the provision of any shipping services;

(e) imposing, in pursuance of any Community obligation, such tax or duty payable by such persons and in such circumstances as the Secretary of State may specify;

and in this subsection “regulating”, except in relation to the rates, fares or other amounts which may or must be charged as mentioned in paragraph (a) above, includes imposing a prohibition.”

(4) In section 14(4) (orders under subsection (3)), for “subsection (1)(a)” substitute “subsection (1)(i)”.

(5) In section 14(5) (directions by Secretary of State), for “charges imposed under subsection (3)(d) above” there shall be substituted “any charge, tax or duty imposed under subsection (3)(d) or (e) above”.

(6) The following subsections shall be substituted for section 14(11) and (11A)—

“(11) In this section—

(a) “foreign government” means the government of any State other than the United Kingdom;

(b) references to an agency or authority of a foreign government or of such persons as are mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above include references to any undertaking appearing to the Secretary of State to be, or to be acting on behalf of, an undertaking which is in effect owned or controlled (directly or indirectly) by a State other than, or by a territory outside, the United Kingdom;

(c) “shipping services” means services provided by means of ships, and includes the carriage of goods or passengers by sea, cable laying, dredging, and services provided by offshore support vessels; and

(d) references to ships are to ships of any registration.

(11A) A recital in an order under this section that the persons who have adopted, or propose to adopt, the measures or practices in question are—

(a) a foreign government, or

(b) such persons as are mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above, or

(c) an agency or authority of a foreign government or of such persons,

shall be conclusive.”

(7) In section 15 (parliamentary control of orders under section 14)—

(a) at the beginning of each of subsections (1) and (2) there shall be inserted “Subject to subsection (2A) below,”;

(b) after subsection (2) there shall be inserted—

“(2A) Subsections (1) and (2) above do not apply to an order under the said subsection (3) which is made for the purpose only of implementing any Community obligation.”; and

(c) in subsection (4), after “recites” there shall be inserted “that it is made as mentioned in subsection (2A) above, or”.

(8) In Schedule 4 (provisions supplementing section 14), for paragraph 2 there shall be substituted—

“ Orders imposing charges, taxes or duties

2 (1) An order under subsection (3)(d) or (e) of the principal section —

(a) may apply to ships of any description specified in the order, and may apply in particular to ships registered in a specified country, or to ships carrying goods or cargoes of a specified description, or providing any other specified shipping services (within the meaning of the principal section), and

(b) may contain such provisions as appear to the Secretary of State expedient to enable the Commissioners of Customs and Excise to collect any charge, tax or duty imposed by the order, and

(c) may apply, subject to any modifications or exceptions specified in the order, any of the enactments for the time being in force relating to duties (whether of customs or excise) chargeable on goods imported into the United Kingdom.

(2) Any charge, tax or duty so imposed may be a fixed amount, or an amount depending on the tonnage of the ship.

(3) Any such charge, tax or duty shall be payable to the Secretary of State.

(4) An order shall not be made by the Secretary of State under subsection (3)(d) or (e) of the principal section except with the consent of the Treasury.

(5) Nothing in this paragraph prejudices subsection (6) of that section.”

Marginal Citations

M1 1974 c. 43.