Merchant Shipping Act 1995

12 (1) This paragraph applies to any non-United Kingdom ship to which this Schedule applies which—

(a) is registered in a Convention country or, not being registered in any such country or elsewhere, flies the flag of a Convention country, and

(b) is either a pre-1966 Convention ship of not less than 150 tons gross tonnage or a post-1966 Convention ship of not less than 24 metres in length.

(2) The Secretary of State may, at the request of the Government of the parent country of a ship to which this paragraph applies, issue in respect of the ship a certificate in such form as may be prescribed by the load line rules, if the Secretary of State is satisfied that he could properly issue a certificate in respect of the ship under paragraph 6(1) of this Schedule if the ship were a United Kingdom ship.

(3) The load line rules shall make such provision as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate for securing that certificates which are issued as International Load Line Certificates (1966) in respect of ships to which this paragraph applies, and are so issued by Governments other than Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, shall be recognised for the purposes of this Schedule in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the rules.

(4) Certificates issued as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) or (3) above shall be included among the certificates called “International Load Line Certificates (1966)”.

(5) In this Schedule “valid Convention certificate” means a certificate which either—

(a) has been issued under sub-paragraph (2) above and is for the time being in force, or

(b) having been issued as mentioned in sub-paragraph (3) above, is produced in circumstances in which it is required by the load line rules to be recognised for the purposes of this Schedule.