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The Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Crew Agreements, Lists of Crew and Discharge of Seafarers) Regulation applies to all Hong Kong ships and provides details of requirements in relation to the engagement and discharge of seafarers on board Hong Kong ships. Endorsement from a British Consul of a foreign port is no longer required.
Ship's masters, owners and agents are required to notify the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office before crew changes take place in Hong Kong.
The Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Code of Safe Working Practices) Regulation applies to all sea-going ships other than fishing vessels. It requires masters and other specified persons to keep on board and to make available, to any seafarer on the ship who requests it, a copy of the "Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen", published in 1991.
Copies of its Chinese version are available from the Hong Kong Marine Department.
Masters should ensure sufficient copies of the code and a copy of this regulation to be kept on board, and to display notices on the ship specifying the places where copies of the code are kept if the ship employs more than 15 seafarers.
The Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Disciplinary Offences on Board Ships) Regulation applies to every seafarer employed under a crew agreement on a Hong Kong ship. Its main provisions specify the types of misconduct which constitute disciplinary offences on board Hong Kong ships.
They also specify the procedures to be followed in dealing with disciplinary offences and the respective fines for infringement, and provide that complaints may be made to the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office by any seafarer who is dissatisfied with a finding that he has committed a disciplinary offence, and the procedures to be followed by the Superintendent in dealing with the complaint.
The Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Medical Examination) Regulation prohibits the employment of scafarers who do not possess a valid medical fitness certificate within two years of the Regulation coming into operation.
It provides that an approved medical practitioner may in certain circumstances suspend the certificate and require a seafarer to undergo further medical examination or may cancel the certificate.