LU
31
(c) Port State Control
In taking on the very serious responsibility of an individual antonomous registry, the Government should, in the interest of safety of life at sea and the protection of our environment, start exercising its powers under port/flag state control.
The operation of the port state control as brought about by the Memorandum of understanding by 14 European states should be copied by Hong Kong and the Authority should endeavour to inspect a percentage of all vessels entering Hong Kong to check the vessels compliance with various International Conventions.
Legislation to bring some of the conventions into force locally should be enacted as soon as possible.
Once Hong Kong has its own shipping authority, the authority should approach other authorities in the Asian/Pacific basin such as Singapore, Japan with a view to having a similar port state control system set up in the area to that currently in operation under the Paris Memorandum. (MNOG)