Explanatory note

These Regulations implement Commission Directive 2002/25/EC of 5th March 2002 (O.J. L 098, 15.04.2002, p. 1) amending Council Directive 98/18/EC on safety rules and standards for passenger ships (O.J. L 144, 15.5.1998, p. 1) and Parliament and Council Directive 2002/84/EC of 5th November 2002 amending the Directives on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships (O.J. L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 55) in so far as it amends Council Directive 98/18/EC.

Commission Directive 2002/25/EC replaces Annex 1 of Directive 98/18/EC, which deals with detailed technical issues concerning the safety rules and standards for passenger ships. The replacement Annex 1 is implemented into UK law through regulation 2(2) of these Regulations, with a consequential amendment being made through regulation 3 of these Regulations. Annex 1 as replaced by Commission Directive 2002/25/EC imposes an additional requirement regarding stability criteria for ships under 24 metres in length (see the third paragraph of Chapter 1 General Provisions in Annex 1), and this additional requirement is implemented through regulation 2(3) of these Regulations.

Parliament and Council Directive 2002/84/EC provides that references in Directive 98/18/EC to international instruments setting technical standards shall be references to those instruments in their up to date versions. This is implemented through regulation 2(2) of these Regulations, which provides that, where Directive 98/18/EC is referred to in the 1998 Regulations, references in the Directive to international instruments shall be taken to be the up to date versions of those instruments in so far as those up to date versions relate to the purposes for which regulations may be made under section 85(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c. 22), are considered by the Secretary of State to be relevant from time to time and are specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice.