Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order brings into force the Merchant Shipping (Registration, etc.) Act 1993 on 21st March 1994 for the purposes of registration of ships, and on 1st May 1994 for other purposes (mainly pre-consolidation amendments of the Merchant Shipping Acts), with minor exceptions and savings.
There is a saving in respect of vessels currently registered which might otherwise cease to be eligible to be registered by reason of any change in qualifications for ownership. There are also savings for existing regulations (not related to registration) made under powers being repealed to facilitate consolidation.
Exceptions from the coming into force of the pre-consolidation amendments of the Act have the effect of retaining—
(i)amendments made by the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 to make possible to the ratification of the 1984 Protocols (now superseded by the very similar 1992 Protocols) to the Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage Convention 1969 and Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971.
(ii)as a matter of United Kingdom law, the responsibilities of the general lighthouse authorities in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar;
(iii)the lighthouse at Sombrero in the Leeward Islands as the responsibility of the General Lighthouse Fund;
(iv)the power to grant exemptions under rules for life-saving appliances and radio rules made under existing legislation; and
(v)the power to prescribe maximum fees for tonnage measurement.