The Department of Merchant Shipping has announced that the 2004 agreement between Cyprus and Italy on maritime navigation has been amended by an exchange of notes between the two countries. The amendments took effect on November 23 2011.
The key provisions of the amended agreement are as follows:
- Article V requires each contracting party to treat ships of the other contracting party that call at its ports as favourably as its own ships, on issues including freedom of entry to ports, port duties, taxes, tariffs and charges for port services, use of port equipment for loading and unloading cargo, supplies and waste, and embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, crew and goods.
- Article VII commits each contracting party to recognise the identification documents issued by the competent national maritime authority of the other contracting party to crew members who are nationals of that contracting party.
- Article VIII permits crew members of one contracting party visiting ports of the other party to go ashore temporarily in the port town and its environs, in accordance with local legislation, provided that they appear in the crew list of the ship and hold the identification documents referred to in Article VII.
- Article XI commits the competent national maritime authority of each contracting party to provide the same assistance and facilities to ships of the other party as would be available to its own vessels in the event that they are shipwrecked, run aground or suffer loss or damage or any other accident in its territorial waters, in one of its ports or off its coast.
For further information on this topic please contact Costas Stamatiou at Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC by telephone (+357 25 110 000), fax (+357 25 110 001) or email ([email protected]).