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Such a scheme would enable all categories of ships linked
with the Islands to have full access to Convention
-certificates, and would ensure that all ships registered
in the British Islands are subject to the same safety
standards. It is of course for the Island Governments
to consider which of the alternatives suits best their
requirements and those of their shipowners.
VII.
PROVISIONAL REGISTRATION
34. Under Section 22 of the 1894 Act a provisional
certificate of registration may be granted to a ship by
a British Consular Officer. This certificate expires
after a period of six months or when the ship arrives at
a port where there is a registrar, whichever happens first,
but there is nothing to prevent the ship being provisionally
registered again after the expiry of the first certificate.
The Government believes that there is a need to retain
a provisional registration facility for ships purchased
abroad by British shipowners, but the present system is
open to abuse, first because it enables an unsafe ship
to sail under the British flag for six months without
any survey and secondly because this cheap and convenient
method of acquiring British nationality for a ship abroad
could be exploited for criminal purposes. There have been
cases of serious casualties and drug smuggling by
provisionally registered ships. In practice, provisional
registration is used infrequently, and where subsequently
full. registration is taken out this is usually achieved
within a month.
Moreover with the new centralised registration
procedures in the UK it will be possible for shipowners
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