NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Later government al
Maritime
Consultatio
brganisch (a UN roxanisation)
will be given to the extent to which present
nationality requirements may need to be relaxed in
connexion with new regulations it is intended to make
under Section 43 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970.
This is a difficult and sensitive issue and any
change of policy ultimately adopted would probably
apply equally to ships registered in Hong Kong as to
those registered in the United Kingdom.
Whilst the
DTI feel some relaxation of existing nationality
rules is probable and would be helpful to Hong Kong,
it is doubtful whether resultant changes would
necessarily go far enough to meet Mr Pao's requirements
5. As to the acceptance of foreign nationals with
"equivalent national qualification" you will
appreciate how extremely difficult it is to make a
realistic comparison of standards and competency
as between systems applied in different countries.
Largely as a result of standards and examination
arrangements being modelled on the UK pattern,
reciprocal acceptance of certificates of competency
has developed within the Commonwealth but, despite
continuing attempts by IMCO and ILO, agreement on
internationally acceptable standards is far from
being reached. Nationally and internationally,
therefore, efforts are being made to bring about
changes in certification and manning standards but thi
will be of no assistance in solving the immediate
problem.
6.
One possible solution to this problem is the
adoption by Hong Kong of a nationally requirement
for ships registered in Hong Kong (either as a port
ese
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