# The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 2026, Regulation 12: Rectification and detention


(1) Where an inspector has reason to believe that any deficiencies in relation to compliance with the Conventions which are confirmed or revealed by an inspection of the ship are clearly hazardous to health, safety or the marine environment, the inspector may, subject to regulation 13, detain the ship using powers of detention in Convention enactments.
(2) Where an inspector decides to detain the ship, the inspector must do so by serving a notice (“a detention notice”) on the master of the ship.
(3) A detention notice—
(a) must require the ship to comply with the terms of the notice until it is released by the Secretary of State;
(b) may—
(i) include a direction that a ship must remain in a particular place, or must move to a particular anchorage or berth;
(ii) specify circumstances when the master of the ship may move that ship from a specified place for reasons of safety or prevention of pollution.
(4) A detention imposed by an inspector in the circumstances described in paragraph (1) must not be lifted until the Secretary of State has established that the ship can, depending on any necessary conditions to be met, proceed to sea or its operation be resumed without—
(a) risk to the safety and health of passengers or crew,
(b) risk to other ships, or
(c) there being a material threat of harm to the marine environment.
(5) When exercising professional judgement as to whether or not a ship should be detained in accordance with paragraph (1), the inspector must apply the criteria set out in Schedule 3 but this does not prevent the application of any other requirement in the Convention enactments.
(6) A ship must be detained if it is not equipped with a functioning voyage data recorder system where its use is compulsory in accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2020.
(7) Where paragraph (6) applies and the deficiency cannot readily be rectified in the port of detention, the inspector may—
(a) either, if the deficiency is capable of being rectified, allow the ship to proceed to the appropriate repair yard nearest to the port of detention in order that it can be rectified, or
(b) require that the deficiency be rectified within a maximum period of 30 days.
(8) In exceptional circumstances, where the overall condition of a ship is obviously substandard, the inspector may, in addition to detaining the ship, suspend the inspection of that ship until the responsible parties have taken the steps necessary to ensure that it complies with the relevant requirements of the Conventions.
(9) Where a ship is detained following an inspection the Secretary of State must immediately notify, in writing—
(a) the ship’s flag administration if this is possible,
(b) the Consul of the flag State if notification under sub-paragraph (a) is not possible, or
(c) the nearest diplomatic representative of the flag State if notification under sub-paragraph (a) or (b) is not possible.
(10) The written information referred to in paragraph (9) must set out the reasons relating to the decision to detain the ship and must include the written report of the inspection prepared for the purposes of regulation 10.
(11) The provisions of these Regulations do not prejudice the additional requirements of the Conventions that apply to a ship to which this regulation applies concerning notification and reporting procedures related to port state control.
(12) When carrying out an inspection under these Regulations, the inspector must make all possible efforts to avoid a ship being unduly detained or delayed.
(13) The risk of port congestion must not be a consideration in a decision to detain a ship or to release a ship from detention.
(14) Section 284 of the Act (enforcing detention of a ship) applies in relation to a ship as if any reference to proceeding to sea were a reference to proceeding contrary to the detention notice and references to sending or taking to sea were construed accordingly where—
(a) the ship is detained under a Convention enactment, or
(b) the master of the ship is served with a detention notice under such an enactment.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348280098/regulation/12 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-merchant-shipping-port-state-control-regulations-2026/regulation-12
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.