Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

244 Interpretation of this Chapter

(1) In this Chapter—

• “British marine installation” means a marine installation owned by or leased to an individual residing in, or a body corporate incorporated under the law of, any part of the United Kingdom;

• “British warship” means a ship belonging to Her Majesty and forming part of Her Majesty’s armed forces;

• “civilian marine enforcement officer” means a person appointed as a marine enforcement officer by the MMO or the Welsh Ministers;

• “the Commissioners” means the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

• “fishing boat” means any vessel that is being used for fishing or for any activity relating to fishing;

• “flag state”, in relation to a vessel, means the State whose flag the vessel is flying or is entitled to fly;

• “marine installation” means any artificial island, installation or structure (other than a vessel);

• “Northern Ireland fishing boat” means a fishing boat which is registered in the United Kingdom under Part 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c. 21) and whose entry in the register specifies a port in Northern Ireland as the port to which the boat is to be treated as belonging;

• “petroleum” has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Petroleum Act 1998 (c. 17) (see section 28(1) of that Act);

• “Scottish fishing boat” means a fishing boat which is registered in the United Kingdom under Part 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and whose entry in the register specifies a port in Scotland as the port to which the boat is to be treated as belonging;

• “third country vessel” means a vessel which—

  (a)

  is flying the flag of, or is registered in, any State or territory (other than Gibraltar) which is not a member State, and

  (b)

  is not registered in a member State.

(2) In this Chapter, except where otherwise provided, any reference to a vessel includes a reference to—

(a) any ship or boat or any other description of vessel used in navigation, and

(b) any hovercraft, submersible craft or other floating craft,

but does not include a reference to anything that permanently rests on, or is permanently attached to, the sea bed.