S.I. No. 558/1998:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (REGISTRATION OF PERSONS SAILING ON BOARD PASSENGER SHIPS) REGULATIONS, 1998.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (REGISTRATION OF PERSONS SAILING ON BOARD PASSENGER SHIPS) REGULATIONS, 1998.

I, Michael Woods, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 98/41/EC of 18 June 1998⁽¹⁾, hereby make the following regulations:

⁽¹⁾ O.J. No. L 188 2.7.1998, p. 35

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Registration of Persons Sailing on board Passenger Ships) Regulations, 1998.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1999.

2. (1) In these Regulations -

"authorised officer" means a person appointed as an authorised officer under Regulation 10 of these Regulations;

"company" means the owner of a passenger ship or any other organisation or person (such as the manager or the boat charterer) who has assumed responsibility for operating the passenger ship for the owner;

"the Community" means the European Community;

"the Council Directive" means Council Directive No. 98/41/EC of 18 June 1998;

"Irish ship" means a ship registered under the Mercantile Marine Act, 1955 (No. 29 of 1955);

"Member State" means a Member State of the European Community;

"mile" means 1852 metres;

"the Minister" means the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources;

"passenger registrar" means the responsible shore-based person designated by a company to fulfil obligations under the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) through Assembly Resolution A. 741(18) of 4 November 1993 (ISM Code) or a shore-based person designated by a company as responsible for the keeping of information on persons who have embarked on a company passenger ship;

"passenger ship" means a sea-going ship or a sea-going high speed craft which carries more than 12 passengers;

"third country" means any country which is not a Member State.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations, and is also used in the Council Directive, has, unless the contrary otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Council Directive.

3. These Regulations apply to passenger ships, other than -

(a) ships of war or troop ships, or

(b) pleasure yachts, unless they are crewed or will be crewed and carry more than 12 passengers for commercial purposes.

4. The Minister is hereby designated as the competent authority, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Council Directive, responsible for search and rescue or concerned with the aftermath of an accident.

5. (1) The master of a passenger ship which departs from a port in the State or a passenger ship which is an Irish ship and departs from a port in a Member State shall, before the ship departs from the port, ensure that all persons on board the ship are counted.

(2) Before a passenger ship departs from a port in the State the person responsible for counting passengers shall communicate to the master of the passenger ship and to the company's passenger registrar the number of persons on board the ship.

6. With effect from 1 January, 2000, the master of a passenger ship that departs from a port located in the State or a passenger ship which is an Irish ship that departs from a port located in a Member State to undertake a voyage of more than 20 miles from the point of departure shall ensure that the following information is recorded in respect of every person on board the ship -

(a) the family names of the persons on board,

(b) their forenames or initials,

(c) their sex,

(d) an indication of the category of age (adult, child or infant) to which each person belongs, the age or the year of birth, and

(e) when volunteered by a passenger, information concerning the need for special care or assistance in emergency situations, and

that the information is collected before departure and communicated not later than 30 minutes after the passenger ship's departure to the company's passenger registrar.

7. (1) The company of each passenger ship which is an Irish ship that departs from a port located outside the Community and is bound for a port located within the Community shall ensure that Regulations 5 and 6 of these Regulations are complied with.

(2) The company of every passenger ship that flies the flag of a third country and departs from a port located outside the Community and is bound for a port located within the Community shall ensure that the information specified in Regulations 5(1) and 6 of these Regulations is collected and maintained so that it is available to the Minister when needed for the purposes of search and rescue and in the aftermath of an accident.

8. (1) A company assuming responsibility for operating a passenger ship shall -

(a) set up a system, in accordance with the criteria specified in paragraph (2) of these Regulations, for the registration of passenger information for the purposes of Regulations 5 and 6 of these Regulations, and

(b) appoint a passenger registrar responsible for the keeping and transmission to the Minister of that information should an emergency occur or in the aftermath of an accident.

(2) A system set up under this Regulation shall meet the following criteria -

(a) readability:

the required data must be in a format that is easy to read,

(b) availability:

the required data must be easily available to the Minister,

(c) facilitation:

the system must be designed in such a way that no undue delay is caused for passengers embarking or disembarking the vessel,

(d) security:

the data must be appropriately protected against accidental or unlawful destruction or loss and unauthorised alteration, disclosure or access,

(e) multiplicity of systems:

a multiplicity of systems on the same or similar routes should be avoided.

(3) A company shall ensure that the information it is required to keep under these Regulations is at all times readily available for transmission to the Minister for search and rescue purposes in the event of an emergency or in the aftermath of an accident.

(4) Personal data, in respect of any passenger, collected in accordance with Regulation 6 of these Regulations shall not be kept by the company longer than is necessary for the purposes of these Regulations.

(5) A company shall ensure that information concerning persons who have declared to it a need for special care or assistance in emergency situations is properly recorded and communicated to the master of the passenger ship concerned before the ship departs.

9. Before a passenger ship departs from a port located in the State or a passenger ship which is an Irish ship departs from a port located in a Member State its master shall ensure that the number of persons on board the ship does not exceed the number the passenger ship is permitted to carry.

10. (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many of his or her officers as he or she thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of ensuring compliance with these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of the officer's appointment and, when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer under these Regulations, shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

(3) An authorised officer may for the purpose of ensuring that these Regulations are being complied with -

(a) at all reasonable times board a ship to which these Regulations apply or enter any premises (other than a dwelling) in which there are reasonable grounds to believe that information under these Regulations is kept and search and inspect the ship or premises and any records found there,

(b) inspect and take copies of, or extracts from, the ship's log (if any) and the ship's manifest (if any) and any other records or documents pertaining to the ship or its company and information under these Regulations found on the ship or premises,

(c) secure for later inspection any part of the ship or premises where any information under these Regulations is kept,

(d) require the master or other person in charge of the ship or person in charge of the premises to produce to the officer any records in relation to information held under these Regulations,

(e) require the master or other person in charge of the ship or person in charge of the premises to afford the officer such facilities and assistance within his control or responsibilities as are reasonably necessary to enable the officer to exercise any of the powers conferred on an authorised officer under this Regulation.

(4) A person who -

(a) obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer in the exercise of the officer's powers under this Regulation, or

(b) fails to comply with a requirement of an authorised officer under this Regulation,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

11. A person who contravenes these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

12. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

13. Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate or by a person acting on behalf of a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or any other officer of such body or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, such person shall also be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 30th day of December, 1998.

Michael Woods

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Instrument transposes into Irish Law the provisions of Council Directive 98/41/EC. This Directive has the purpose of enhancing the safety and possibility of rescue of passengers and crew on board passenger ships operating to or from ports in Member States of the Community and of ensuring that search and rescue and the aftermath of any accident which may occur is dealt with more effectively