15.—(1) If an IOPP certificate is issued for a period of validity of less than five years, the Certifying Authority which issued the certificate may extend the period of validity of that certificate to a maximum of five years provided annual and intermediate surveys have been completed as appropriate.
(2) Where—
(a)a renewal survey has been completed, but
(b)the IOPP or UKOPP certificate in respect of that survey cannot be issued or placed on board the ship before the date on which the existing certificate is due to expire,
the Certifying Authority may endorse the existing certificate as being valid for a period not exceeding five months from the date on which that existing certificate is due to expire.
(3) Where—
(a)a renewal survey has not been completed before the date on which an IOPP or UKOPP certificate expires; and
(b)on the date of expiry the ship is not in the port in which the survey is due to be carried out,
the Certifying Authority that issued the existing IOPP or UKOPP certificate may extend the period of validity of that certificate for a period not exceeding three months if it appears to the Certifying Authority that it is proper and reasonable to do so solely for the purpose of enabling the ship to complete the voyage to its port of survey.
(4) A ship in respect of which a certificate has been extended under paragraph (3) must not, following its arrival in the port in which it is to be surveyed, be enabled by virtue of that extension to leave that port before a new certificate is issued.
(5) A certificate issued following completion of the renewal survey in the circumstances described in paragraph (3) may be issued for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the existing certificate before the extension was granted.
(6) Where no other extension has been granted under this regulation, the Certifying Authority which issued an IOPP or UKOPP certificate in respect of a ship used solely on short voyages may extend the validity of that certificate for a period not exceeding one month from the date of expiry.
(7) A certificate issued following completion of the renewal survey in the circumstances described in paragraph (6) may be issued for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the existing certificate before the extension was granted.
(8) An extension of validity under paragraph (3) or (6) must be disregarded for the purposes of determining the date of expiry of an existing IOPP or UKOPP Certificate under regulation 14(2) or (3).
(9) In the circumstances described in paragraph (10) a Certificate issued following a renewal survey which is completed—
(a)after the expiry of an IOPP or UKOPP certificate; or
(b)during the period of an extension granted under paragraph (3) or (6),
may be issued as being valid to a date not exceeding five years from the date of completion of that renewal survey.
(10) The circumstances are where the owner of the ship—
(a)submits a request to the Certifying Authority for the new period of certification to begin on the date of the completion of the relevant renewal survey;
(b)satisfies the Certifying Authority that the owner is justified in making such a request; and
(c)complies with any reasonable additional survey requirements which the Certifying Authority may impose.
(11) In this regulation “short voyage” means a voyage which—
(a)does not exceed 1,000 nautical miles between the last port of call in the country in which the voyage begins and the last port of call in the voyage before beginning any return voyage; and
(b)on any return voyage does not exceed 1,000 nautical miles between the port of call in which the ship begins its return voyage and the first port of call in the country in which the voyage began,
and for the purposes of this definition, no account is to be taken of any deviation by a ship from its intended voyage due solely to stress of weather or any other circumstances that neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer (if any) of the ship could have prevented or forestalled.