GovWire

The aims of the Regulations are:

• to postpone the deadline for electronic reporting of persons data through the Maritime National Single Window (MNSW) or Automatic Identification System (AIS) from 20 December 2023 to 20 December 2025. This only affects seagoing passenger ships as those operating exclusively on categorised waters are not subject to this obligation);

• to widen the Secretary of States (SoS) exemption powers to remove restrictions on the type of exemptions which may be granted, allowing the SoS to exempt any passenger ships in whatever circumstances and to whatever extent is believed to be appropriate, except for passenger ships which are subject to the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (SOLAS) where exemption from such requirements is limited to the extent permitted by SOLAS;

• to amend the Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances and Arrangements) Regulations 2020 to disapply the ambulatory reference which exists in those Regulations to the persons data obligations contained in Regulation 27 of Chapter III of SOLAS. This will correct a legislative duplication which currently exists, and to keep all the persons counting obligations together in UK merchant shipping legislation;

• to amend the word Passengers to read Persons on one occasion in the Regulations, to be consistent with the remainder of the Regulations, as crew data must also be reported, so the term passenger is too narrow;

• to adjust the drafting of the Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons On Board Passenger Ships) Regulations 1999 (the 1999 Regulations) (as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons On Board Passenger Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations) to provide clarity that the words after which it shall be erased without undue delay apply to both r8(2)(a) and r8(2)(b) of the revised version of the Regulations, as agreed with the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments JCSI);

• to remove the term other member states (referring to European Union member states) in Regulation 3(4) of the 1999 Regulations as amended by the 2021 Regulations as agreed with the JCSI. This is because the UK has now left the EU and legislation should no longer refer to other EU member states but simply to EU member states as the UK is no longer numbered among them.