Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023

[dunedin]

Seems to me on a quick glance through that they are closing loop holes used by lawyers to get the idiot fringe off the hook after an accident or fatality, in order to simplify the process when prosecution is appropriate but confused by lack of clear legislation.

From the Instrument:

12. Impact
12.1 There is no, or no significant, impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies.
12.2 The impact on the public sector is not expected to be significant and will fall largely
on the MCA as the relevant enforcement authority. MCA has an established
enforcement team and there is no change to the offences within the Merchant
Shipping Act 1995 which have remained applicable to ships.
12.3 A full Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this instrument because no, or no
significant, impact is foreseen

That was in the consultation. A classic bureaucratic nonsense (that Studland Bay bureaucrats would be proud of).
They have not performed an impact assessment, had no data on number of watercraft involved, but state there will be “no significant impact”. They can’t possibly know without doing an impact assessment.
Somewhere in the Consultation there was another statement saying that an alternative simpler legislative proposal to resolved the perceived issue because there could be unexpected consequences, as these had not been assessed.
And how can there be no impact on staff numbers needed for the Ships Registrar, or the MCA as enforcement authority …… unless they expect nothing to change and no enforcement to be done as a result of the legislation.

 

[dunedin]

The SSR is not appropriate for this purpose as it there solely to identify your boat as a British Ship when outside UK waters. All the new proposal is saying is that the voluntary registration as required by many harbour authorities should be widely used as a means of identifying boats. a more comprehensive compulsory system has been suggested before, for example when there was a proposal for an EU wide system and more recently when considering ways of raising more money to finance navigation aids by levying light duties on private vessels. In both cases it was not pursued mainly because there was no appetite in government (as well of course because of lobbying). for more regulation, not least because enforcement is a major cost.

What makes you interpret this as the “voluntary registration” not being the SSR or Part 1 ship registration?
It states “From 31st March 2023, the register of British ships maintained under subsection (1) is to include all registrations of watercraft in the United Kingdom” - so it is presumably the national “register of British ships”, not any local registration
PS. By contrast the recent Consultation on UK Light Dues was much less ambitious and onerous in terms of any changes for pleasure craft

 

[KevinV]

A full Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this instrument because no, or no
significant, impact is foreseen

This is a cracking bit of bureauspeak, just brilliant!
It either means "this instrument will achieve nothing", or "we don't foresee any impact because we haven't looked"

 

[dunedin]

This is a cracking bit of bureauspeak, just brilliant!
It either means "this instrument will achieve nothing", or "we don't foresee any impact because we haven't looked"

It was the latter, which was clear in the original documents - or perhaps both

 

[finestgreen]

The "Impact Assessment" covers only whether it increases the costs of doing business, not all the total effects of the regulation

 

[Tranona]

What makes you interpret this as the “voluntary registration” not being the SSR or Part 1 ship registration?
It states “From 31st March 2023, the register of British ships maintained under subsection (1) is to include all registrations of watercraft in the United Kingdom” - so it is presumably the national “register of British ships”, not any local registration
PS. By contrast the recent Consultation on UK Light Dues was much less ambitious and onerous in terms of any changes for pleasure craft

I was thinking more in the context of jet skis (and indeed many other small watercraft) where neither of the 2 current registers is appropriate if you read their purpose. Local registration for identification purposes as many other countries use (as well as some harbour authorities) is far more appropriate but of course costly to run. So a bit of a cop out really if the intention is to have better control over the activity.

While the light due proposals were not onerous, implementation would require a compulsory registration system to implement.

 

[dunedin]

I was thinking more in the context of jet skis (and indeed many other small watercraft) where neither of the 2 current registers is appropriate if you read their purpose. Local registration for identification purposes as many other countries use (as well as some harbour authorities) is far more appropriate but of course costly to run. So a bit of a cop out really if the intention is to have better control over the activity.

While the light due proposals were not onerous, implementation would require a compulsory registration system to implement.

But the recent changes specifically make PWCs - and all other powered watercraft - eligible to register as a Ship from end March 2023. So SSR will presumably need to change their website and procedures, if these don’t match with that.

The light due proposals consulted upon recently, by contrast, would NOT require registration, compulsory or otherwise, of leisure craft unless quite large - possibly 24m LOA, though may be slightly less.

 

[Tranona]

But the recent changes specifically make PWCs - and all other powered watercraft - eligible to register as a Ship from end March 2023. So SSR will presumably need to change their website and procedures, if these don’t match with that.

The light due proposals consulted upon recently, by contrast, would NOT require registration, compulsory or otherwise, of leisure craft unless quite large - possibly 24m LOA, though may be slightly less.

ukshipregister.co.uk/registration/leisure/small-ships-register-part-3/ Hardly relevant for small watercraft. The SSR was introduced specifically following pressure from the French government in the late 1990s. for a means of identifying flag state for the many UK pleasure craft that visited France. That rationale still holds good today and it has become acceptable world wide. Part 1 is even less relevant having been designed for commercial ships but is flexible enough to apply to pleasure craft. However, how do you measure tonnage for jet ski? or prove title for an Avon Redcrest with an outboard ?

So all rather meaningless except for bringing personal watercraft under the MSA which may help prosecutors in a small number of cases that get to court. Having registration in the current form is irrelevant.

 

[ylop]

How bizzare I assumed you’d all welcomed the recognition that all boats should have to follow the col regs etc.

 

[jdc]

Well, it's not so bad; PWC and indeed any craft, should have to obey col regs. But the reason for the new law is entirely because a court interpreted the pre-existing law in an manner which many found bizarre - to exclude PWC from the col regs.

Hence this legislation was drafted to counteract the fact that courts are capricious; by making yet more matters subject to those same courts. Some of us see an irony of this...

 

[2Tizwoz]

Well, it's not so bad; PWC and indeed any craft, should have to obey col regs. But the reason for the new law is entirely because a court interpreted the pre-existing law in an manner which many found bizarre - to exclude PWC from the col regs.

Hence this legislation was drafted to counteract the fact that courts are capricious; by making yet more matters subject to those same courts. Some of us see an irony of this...

I notice a reference to insurance on the MCA website. This is presumably the direction of travel expected, so that the person who drives a motorbike is treated in the same way when they are using a PWC or other vessel capable of injuring someone.

PWC are launched from and used in places other than harbours.

 

[Thistle]

A huge raft of Civil servants, from all departments, would be made redundant if government stopped finding the need for the drafting of new legislation.

And that's a problem because ... ?

 

[NormanS]

And that's a problem because ... ?

Because we could be doing with more people being employed doing actually useful things.