The Merchant Shipping (Recognition and Authorisation of Organisations) Law (128(I)/2011), which was published in the Official Gazette on October 7 2011, transposes into Cyprus law the EU Directive on Common Rules and Standards for Ship Inspection and Survey Organisations and for the Relevant Activities of Maritime Administrations (2009/15/EC).
The new law regulates the powers delegated by the government to the Department of Merchant Shipping to authorise classification societies that are recognised by the European Commission to certify compliance with the relevant international conventions of ships flying the Cyprus flag.
The new law repeals the Merchant Shipping (Recognition and Authorisation of Organisations) Laws 2001 and 2004. However, Notification PI 241/2005, issued under the repealed laws, will remain in effect for now until it is replaced by a new notification issued under Section 6 of the new law.
The Merchant Shipping (Recognition and Authorisation of Organisations) Order 2011 (PI 451/2011), issued under Section 2 of the new law, lists the relevant conventions as follows:
- the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (apart from Chapter XI-2);
- the International Load Lines Convention 1966;
- the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 and the 1978 Protocol thereto;
- the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships 1969;
- the Special Trade Passenger Ships Agreement 1971 and the Protocol on Space Requirements for Special Trade Passenger Ships 1973;
- the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships 2001; and
- the current version of any protocols, amendments and codes relating to these conventions.
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]).