Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Hours of Work and Watchkeeping) Regulations, 1998

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 551/1998
• Year: 1998

S.I. No. 551 of 1998.
MERCHANT SHIPPING (SAFE MANNING, HOURS OF WORK AND WATCHKEEPING) REGULATIONS, 1998
I, Michael Woods, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 11 and 12 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1947 , (No. 46 of 1947), and section 3(2), of the Merchant Shipping (Certification of Seamen) Act, 1979 (No. 37 of 1979), as adapted by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 1983 (No. 40 of 1983) and the Marine (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 301 of 1997 .), hereby make the following Regulations:
	1 Citation, commencement and revocation.	1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning, Hours of Work and Watchkeeping) Regulations, 1998.
(2) The following Regulations are hereby revoked:
(a) the Merchant Shipping (Certification and Watchkeeping) Regulations, 1984 ( S.I. No. 187 of 1984 );
(b) the Merchant Shipping (Safe Manning Document) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 347 of 1994 );
	2 Interpretation.	2. (1) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires-
"appropriate certificate" means in relation to ships registered in the State under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1997, means an appropriate certificate issued by the Minister under the Merchant Shipping (Certification of Seamen) Act, 1979 , and in relation to other ships, an appropriate certificate as defined in the STCW Convention;
"authorised person" means a person authorised by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations;
"consular officer" means a career consular officer or an honorary consular officer, both of which shall be construed in accordance with Article 1 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations done at Vienna on the 24th day of April, 1963, which Convention is set out in the Second Schedule to the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act, 1967 ;
"GT" means gross tons, and-
(a) the gross tonnage of a ship having alternative gross tonnages shall be the larger of those tonnages;
(b) in the case of a ship having its gross tonnage determined both under Part II of the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Regulations, 1984, ( S.I. No. 369 of 1984 ) and Regulation 6 of the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage Regulations, 1984) (Amendment) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 4 of 1994 ), its gross tonnage as determined under the said Regulation 6;
"hazardous cargo" means cargo which is or may be explosive, flammable, toxic, health-threatening or environment-polluting;
"Irish ship" means a ship registered in the State under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1997, other than a ship to which paragraph (a) or (b) of Regulation 3 applies;
"Marine Notice" means a Notice described as such together with a designatory number and issued by the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources;
"the Minister" means the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources;
" proper officer" means a consular officer of the State, a superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office to which section 246 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, relates or any officer in a port in the State exercising the functions of such a superintendent;
"owner", in relation to a ship, means-
(a) the person registered under the Mercantile Marine Act, 1955 , as its owner, or
(b) any other person, such as the manager or the charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the owner and who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibilities imposed on the owner by the Regulations contained in the Annexed to the STCW Convention,
and reference to "shipowner" shall be consttued accordingly;
"safe manning document" means a document, described as such, and issued-
(a) in the case of a ship registered in the State under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1997, by the Minister, and
(b) in the case of any other ship by or on behalf of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly;
"safety committee" means a safety committee set up under the Merchant Shipping (Safety Officials and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations, 1988 ( S.I. No. 110 of 1988 );
"schedule of duties" has the meaning assigned by Regulation 9(1);
"sea going" means going beyond the limits of smooth and partially smooth waters as defined in the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliance) Rules, 1993 ( S.I. No. 380 of 1993 );
"specified by the Minister" means specified in a Marine Notice;
"STCW Code" means the Seafarers' Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code adopted by resolution 2 of the Conference (convened in London by the International Maritime Organisation) of Parties to the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, on the 7th day of July, 1995;
"STCW Convention" means the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, which was adopted by the International Conference on the Standards of Training and Certification of Seafarers on the 7th day of July, 1978, and was subsequently amended by amendments which were-
(a) adopted in 1991 and entered into force on the 1st day of December, 1992,
(b) adopted in 1994 and entered into force on the 1st day of January, 1996, and
(c) adopted in on the 7th day of July 1995, by resolution 1 of the Conference (convened in London by the International Maritime Organisation) of Parties to the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers;
(2) Any reference to the STCW Code, the STCW Convention or a particular Marine Notice includes any amendment to that Code, Convention or Notice which is specified by the Minister in a Marine Notice.
(3) (a) A reference in these Regulations to a Regulation is to a Regulation of these Regulations unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended.
(b) A reference in these Regulations to a paragraph or subparagraph is to a paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended.
	3 Application.	3. These Regulations apply to sea-going ships which are ships registered in the State under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1998, wherever they are, other than -
(a) fishing vessels of less than 100 GT or under 24 metres in length, and
(b) a vessel primarily used for sport or recreation.
	4 Responsibilities of companies, masters and others.	4. (1) Every ship owner shall ensure that-
(a) every seafarer assigned to any of its ships holds an appropriate certificate in respect of any function he or she is to perform on that ship,
(b) every seafarer on any of its ships has had training specified in the Merchant Shipping (Training and Certification) Regulations, 1998 in respect of any function he or she is to perform on that ship, and
(c) documentation and data relevant to all seafarers employed on its ships are maintained and readily available for inspection and include, without being limited to, documentation and data on each seafarers' experience, training, medical fitness and competency in assigned duties.
(2) Nothing in paragraph (1) shall prohibit the allocation of tasks for training under supervision or in case of force majeure.
(3) Every shipowner shall provide written instructions to the master of each of its ships setting out the policies and the procedures to be followed to ensure that all seafarers who are newly employed on board the ship are given a reasonable opportunity to become familiar with the shipboard equipment, operating procedures and other arrangements needed for the proper performance of their duties, before being assigned to those duties.
(4) The policies and procedures referred to in paragraph (3) shall include:
(a) allocation of a reasonable period of time during which each newly employed seafarer will have an opportunity to become acquainted with-
(i) the specific equipment the seafarer will be using or...