{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-minimum-standards-of-safety-communications-regulations-1997/regulation-5",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-minimum-standards-of-safety-communications-regulations-1997/regulation-5.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1997/529",
  "legislation_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards of Safety Communications) Regulations 1997",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-minimum-standards-of-safety-communications-regulations-1997",
  "path": "regulation/5",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "5",
  "heading": "Duty to ensure safe communication",
  "text": "It shall be the duty of the owner and master to ensure—\n(a) that on every ship and hovercraft—\n(i) there are at all times means in place for effective oral communication related to safety between all members of the ship’s or hovercraft’s company, particularly with regard to the correct and timely reception and understanding of messages and instructions;\n(ii) there are adequate means of communication between the ship or hovercraft and the shore based authorities in the English language;\n(b) that on every passenger ship and hovercraft personnel nominated on muster lists to assist passengers in emergency situations are readily identifiable and have communication skills that are sufficient for that purpose, taking into account an appropriate and adequate combination of any of the following criteria—\n(i) the language or languages appropriate to the principal nationalities of passengers carried on a particular route;\n(ii) the likelihood that an ability to use elementary English vocabulary for basic instructions can provide a means of communicating with a passenger in need of assistance whether or not the passenger and crew member share a common language;\n(iii) the possible need to communicate during an emergency by some other means such as by demonstration, or hand signals, or calling attention to the location of instructions, muster stations, life-saving devices or evacuation routes when verbal communication is impractical;\n(iv) the extent to which complete safety instructions have been provided to passengers in their native language or languages; and\n(v) the languages in which emergency announcements may be broadcast during an emergency or drill to convey critical guidance to passengers and to facilitate crew members in assisting passengers;\n(c) that on board an United Kingdom ship or a Government ship, which is an oil tanker, chemical tanker or liquefied gas tanker—\n(i) the master, officers and ratings are able to communicate with each other in a common working language;\n(ii) there are adequate means for communication between the ship and the shore-based authorities in the English language.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/1999/1704",
      "affecting_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards of Safety Communications) (Amendment) Regulations 1999"
    },
    {
      "type": "am",
      "affecting": "uksi/2006/89",
      "affecting_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Training and Certification and Minimum Standards of Safety Communications) (Amendment) Regulations 2006"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2026/260",
      "affecting_title": "The Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/529/regulation/5",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T12:24:01.190419+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}