Chapter 19: Administration of Shipping

28. – (1) In this section “the Tribunal” means the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea established in accordance with Annex VI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

(2) Except in so far as in any particular case any privilege or immunity is waived by the Tribunal, the members of the Tribunal shall enjoy, when engaged on the business of the Tribunal, the like privileges and immunities as, in accordance with the 1961 Convention Articles, are accorded to the head of a diplomatic mission.

(3) In subsection (2) –

• “the 1961 Convention Articles” means the Articles (being certain Articles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations signed in 1961) which are set out in Schedule 1 to the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964;

• “head of a diplomatic mission” shall be construed in accordance with those Articles.

(4) The members of the Tribunal and the registrar of the Tribunal shall have exemption from income tax in respect of emoluments received by them as members or as the registrar.

(5) Subsection (4) shall be taken to have come into force on 15th September 1996.

(6) If in any proceedings a question arises whether a person is or is not entitled to any privilege or immunity by virtue of this section, a certificate issued by or under the authority of the Secretary of State stating any fact relating to that question shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.

(7) Subsections (1) to (5) shall cease to have effect on the coming into force of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 1996 (which makes provision corresponding to subsections (1) to (4) but does not come into force until the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea enters into force in respect of the United Kingdom).

19.7 Notes

Section 28 of the Merchant Shipping and Maritime Security Act 1997 entered into force on the date of Royal Assent to the 1997 Act (ie 19 March 1997), by virtue of section 31(4) of that Act.

294 – (1) The Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, and upon such conditions (if any) as he thinks fit to impose, exempt any ship from any specified requirement of, or prescribed under, this Act other than Chapter II of Part VI, or dispense with the observance of any such requirement in the case of any ship, if he is satisfied, as respects that requirement, of the matters specified in subsection (2) below.

(2) Those matters are –

1. that the requirement has been substantially complied with in the case of that ship or that compliance with it is unnecessary in the circumstances; and

2. that the action taken or provision made as respects the subject-matter of the requirement in the case of the ship is as effective as, or more effective than, actual compliance with the requirement.

(3) The Secretary of State shall annually lay before both Houses of Parliament a special report stating –

1. the cases in which he has exercised his powers under this section during the preceding year; and

2. the grounds upon which he has acted in each case.

19.9 MSA 1995, sections 295–297

295 – (1) There shall continue to be an officer known as the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen.

(2) The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen shall be appointed, and may be removed, by the Secretary of State.

(3) The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen shall exercise such functions as are conferred on him by this Act and keep such records and perform such other duties as the Secretary of State may direct.

(4) The Secretary of State may appoint and remove persons to perform on behalf of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen such of his functions as the Secretary of State or the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen may direct.

(5) Subsection (4) above does not apply in relation to the functions of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen as registrar under Part II.

296 – (1) There shall continue to be officers known as mercantile marine superintendents.

(2) Mercantile marine superintendents shall be appointed, and may be removed, by the Secretary of State.

(3) Mercantile marine superintendents shall exercise the functions conferred on superintendents by this Act.

297 – (1) The Lord Chancellor may appoint such number of persons as he thinks fit to be wreck commissioners and may remove any wreck commissioners appointed by him.

(2) A wreck commissioner shall vacate his office on the day on which he attains the age of seventy years; but this subsection is subject to section 26(4) to (6) of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (power to authorise continuance in office up to the age of seventy-five years).

(3) Before appointing a person to act as a wreck commissioner in Northern Ireland the Lord Chancellor shall consult the Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

[(3A) The Lord Chancellor may remove a wreck commissioner from office only with the concurrence of –

1. the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, or

2. if the commissioner was appointed to act in Northern Ireland, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.]

(4) There shall be paid to any wreck commissioner such remuneration, out of money provided by Parliament, as the Lord Chancellor may with the consent of the Treasury determine.

(5) There shall be paid to any...