# The Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, Note: Explanatory note (This note is not part of the Regulations) These Regulations further amend the Merchant Shipping (Port State Control) Regulations 1995 (“the principal Regulations) to implement: (a) Parliament and Council Directive 2001/106/EC of 19th December 2001 (O.J. L 19, 22.1.2002, p. 17) (“the 2001 Directive”), amending Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19th June 1995, now known as the Directive of that date on port State control of shipping (O.J. L 157, 7.7.95, p. 1) (“the 1995 Directive”); and (b) Parliament and Council Directive 2002/84/EC of 5th November 2002 (O.J. L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 53), amending the Directives on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships, in so far as it amends the 1995 Directive. The purpose of the 2001 Directive is to strengthen the existing regime for the inspection of ships using Community ports. The Regulations introduce revised selection criteria for inspection, determined in order of priority. First are high risk ships which are subject to mandatory inspection, secondly ships for which certain overriding factors are laid down and last, overall target factors appearing in the Sirenac information system are applied. The Sirenac information system is the central information system for port state inspection records of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”). Regulation 5 also sets out the circumstances in which the Maritime and Coastguard Agency shall refrain from inspecting ships which have been inspected in another member State within the previous 6 months. A mandatory inspection regime for categories of ships presenting higher risks to safety or the environment has been introduced in conjunction with Merchant Shipping Notice 1775, which sets out detailed technical requirements. Provision is made for mandatory expanded inspection of certain categories of ships, based on type and age criteria and by reference to the ship’s target factor in the Sirenac information system (regulation 7). The Regulations set out the procedure applicable in cases where the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is unable to carry out a mandatory inspection of a ship with a target factor of more than 50, or a mandatory expanded inspection, and impose a requirement that such non-inspection shall not exceed 5% of the average annual number of ships eligible for inspections of this kind (regulation 7A). Provision is made (regulation 7B) for access to be refused to certain high risk categories of ships that fly the flag of a State appearing in the black list of the annual report of the MOU and have been detained a certain number of times. An access refusal order may have been served in the port of another State signatory of the MOU in accordance with the applicable criteria, or where the appropriate conditions for access refusal are satisfied whilst the vessel is in a United Kingdom port, an access refusal notice shall be served by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Regulations require a report to be drawn up of any inspection carried out, in conjunction with requirements set out in MSN 1775, and for a copy to be provided to the master (regulation 8). Regulation 9 has been modified to apply new criteria for detention of a ship (in conjunction with Annex VI of MSN 1775) and to make it mandatory to detain a ship which is not equipped with a functioning voyage data recorder in cases where use of such a recorder is compulsory. Various consequential amendments are made to regulations 10, 11 and 12 (right of appeal and compensation) and to regulation 16 (release of information). The offences set out in regulation 18 are modified to provide for penalties for breach of requirements relating to the 2001 Directive. Parliament and Council Directive 2002/84/EC provides that references in the 1995 Directive to various international Conventions together with the Protocols and amendments to these Conventions and related codes of mandatory status, as well as references to the MOU, shall be references to those Conventions etc. and the MOU in their up to date versions. These Regulations provide, as required by the Directives, that references to “Conventions” (r.2(2) of the principal Regulations) shall be taken to be to the version thereof in force on 22nd July 2003, and thereafter, to the up to date versions of those Conventions etc. in so far as those up to date versions (a) relate to the purposes for which regulations may be made under section 85(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c. 22), (b) are considered by the Secretary of State to be relevant from time to time and (c) are specified in a Merchant Shipping Notice. References to the MOU are dealt with similarly. A Regulatory Impact Assessment and Transposition Note (relating to Parliament and Council Directive 2001/106/EC) have been produced and a copy placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 IEG, (telephone number 02380 329217). Merchant Shipping Notices may be obtained from Mail Marketing (Scotland), Unit 6, Bloomsgrove Industrial Estate, Norton Street, Nottingham NG7 MG (telephone 0115 901 3336; fax 0115 901 3334; e-mail orders mca@promo-solution.com). They may also be accessed via the MCA’s website http://www.mcga.gov.uk. --- Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1636/note (the official version) Page: https://openlegislation.uk/merchant-shipping-port-state-control-amendment-regulations-2003/note Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.