The Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2018

In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Merchant Shipping Act 1995;

• “the Agency” means the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Transport;

• “inspection” includes audit, survey and test;

• “issue” includes amendment, endorsement, re-issue and renewal;

• “local office” means—

  1. (i)

     one of the Agency's Marine Offices M1,

  2. (ii)

     an office of the Marine Management Organisation M2,

  3. (iii)

     an office of Marine Scotland M3, or

  4. (iv)

     an office of the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland M4;

• “premium service”, in relation to a fee, means a service performed for an applicant attending in person at a local office or at the office where the register of British ships is kept F1, or attending a priority appointment online;

• “standard hourly rate” means—

  1. (i)

     £120 per hour in respect of any work carried out after 12th November 2018 and before 13th November 2019, and

  2. (ii)

     £147 per hour in respect of any work carried out after 12th November 2019; and

• “vessel” has the same meaning as “ship” in the Act.

The Regulations specified in Schedule 2 are revoked.

In this Part, “the statutory requirements” means requirements imposed by or under—

Where a fee is prescribed under another Part of this Schedule in respect of an application for the issue of a certificate, that fee applies and not the fee prescribed under this Part.

Subject to any additional fee which may be payable under Part 14 of this Schedule, the fee for a service or function to which this Part applies performed by a person employed by the Agency is to be determined by reference to the time spent in doing the necessary work and calculated at the standard hourly rate.

In the Table of fees in this Part, references to a certificate, endorsement or examination are to a certificate or endorsement under –

and to an examination for any such certificate or endorsement.

Where an application for an examination in relation to item 1 in the Table is cancelled after the prescribed fee has been paid, a refund must be made of —

Where a person requests and receives premium service for either item 1 or item 2 in the Table of fees in this Part, a fee of £150 is payable in addition to the sum of the fees paid on the same occasion.

In the Table of fees in this Part, references to a certificate, endorsement or examination are to a certificate of equivalent competency or endorsement under—

and to an examination for any such certificate or endorsement.

Where an application in relation to item 2 in the Table is withdrawn or rejected after the prescribed fee has been paid, on the grounds that the applicant does not meet the preliminary criteria for detailed assessment, £50 must be refunded.

In this Part, “ship” includes a ship registered under section 17 of the Act (ships bareboat chartered-in by British charterers) but does not include a fishing vessel.

In this Part, “fishing vessel” includes a vessel registered under section 17 of the Act (ships bareboat chartered-in by British charterers).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this part, “copy” means a certified copy of—

The fee for a copy of a document is £15 for each hour or part of an hour required for copying.

Where a person requests and receives premium service, a fee of £50 is payable in addition to the aggregate of the fees for copying done on the same occasion.

In this Part, references to a British Seaman's Card or to a discharge book are references to the documents of those names issued pursuant to the Merchant Shipping (Seamen's Documents) Regulations 1987 M1.

Subject to paragraph 4, the fee for the issue, or replacement, of a British Seaman's Card or a discharge book is £55.

Where a person requests and receives premium service, a fee of £50 is payable in addition to the aggregate of the fees for documents issued on the same occasion.

No fee is payable in respect of a replacement British Seaman's Card or discharge book where the document has been lost, destroyed or defaced through no fault of the holder.

The fee payable on an application for the issue of a certificate under section 164 of the Act (which relates to certificates of compulsory insurance against liability for pollution) is £31.

The fee payable on an application for the issue of a certificate under section 255N M1 of the Act (which relates to wreck removal insurance satisfying the requirements of the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks 2007 M2) is £31.

In this Part, “bank holiday” means any day to be observed as such under section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 M1.

Where any part of an inspection is carried out in Scotland at any time on a Sunday or a Bank Holiday, an additional fee calculated at the standard hourly rate is chargeable for that part.

Where any part of an inspection is carried out in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland at any time on a Sunday or a Bank Holiday, or on Good Friday or Christmas Day, an additional fee calculated at the standard hourly rate is chargeable for that part.

The fee for the Secretary of State's consideration and, if appropriate, approval or re-approval of a waste management plan prepared and submitted by a harbour authority or terminal operator in respect of a harbour or terminal pursuant, as the case may be, to regulation 6(1) or (2) or 8(1) of the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003 M1 (“the Regulations”) is charged at the standard hourly rate.

The fee for the preparation by the Secretary of State of a waste management plan in respect of a harbour or terminal pursuant to regulation 9 of the Regulations is charged at the standard hourly rate.

The fee for the issue by the Secretary of State of an exemption in respect of a harbour authority or terminal operator pursuant to regulation 15(1) and (2) of the Regulations, or in respect of a ship pursuant to regulation 15(3) of the Regulations, is £147.

The fee for the issue by the Secretary of State of an exemption, pursuant to section 48 of the Act (power to exempt from manning requirements), from the requirements in regulation 3 of the Merchant Shipping (Officer Nationality) Regulations 1995 M1 relating to a strategic ship is £250.