Press Release
 
 

 Email this articleGovernment Homepage

LC: Amendments to clauses 1, 3-15, 17 and 18 of Merchant Shipping (Security of Ships and Port Facilities) Bill 2004

*****************************************************

Following is the speech by the Acting Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr John Tsang, in moving the amendments to clauses 1, 3-15, 17 and 18 of Merchant Shipping (Security of Ships and Port Facilities) Bill 2004 at Legislative Council meeting today (June 23):

Madam Chairman,

I move that clauses 1, 3 to 15, and 18 be amended, and the entire clause 17 on "co-operation with other contracting governments" be deleted, as set out in the paper circulated to Members. Most of the proposed amendments have been introduced in response to Members' views.

The amendments to clause 1 seek to enable the Ordinance to commence operation upon its publication in the Gazette.

The amendments to clause 3 seek to refine textually the drafting of the definitions on "authorized officer", "high-speed craft", "international voyage", "ship" and the replacement of "the Code" with "the International Code" so that they are consistent with the relevant definitions under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS). Moreover, definitions on "administration" and "ship/port interface", "designated port facilities" and "manager" are added.

The amendments to clause 6(2)(c) seek to set out clearly that the Director may confer part of the functions to recognised security organisations according to the provisions of the International Ship and Port Facilities Security Code (ISPS Code). The said organisations refer mainly to classification societies which have considerable expertise in respect of security, ship and port operations, and enjoy reputation widely recognised in the international maritime sector.

The amendments to clause 13(5) seek to clearly provide that any person, who provides or gives to an authorised officer any document or information that is false in a material particular and being reckless as to whether the document or information is true in such particular, commits an offence.

As regards clause 17, we propose to delete the whole clause to eliminate any unnecessary ambiguity, since the Director of Marine, as the maritime administration of the Hong Kong SAR, has been co-operating with other administrations in respect of ship inspections and statutory functions under SOLAS.

The amendments to clause 18 seek to delete the requirement of "putting the English and Chinese texts of Chapter X1-2 [eleven-two] of the Convention and the Code in a website on the Internet for browsing free of charge." This is because we have obtained the consent of International Maritime Organization (IMO) for uploading the amended resolution of the Convention and the ISPS Code contained in the relevant IMO paper onto the website of the Marine Department for public inspection.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Ends/Wednesday, June 23, 2004

NNNN


Email this article