Rules of the People's Republic of China on the Safety Supervision of Ships (2020 Amendment)

Rules of the People's Republic of China on the Safety Supervision of Ships (2020 Amendment) Rules of the People's Republic of China on the Safety Supervision of Ships (Promulgated by Order of the Ministry of Transport on May 23, 2017; and amended by the Ministry of Transport in accordance with the Decision of the Ministry of Transport to Amend the Rules of the People's Republic of China on the Safety Supervision of Ships on March 16, 2020) Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 For the purposes of guaranteeing life and property safety on water, preventing the pollution to water areas caused by ships, and regulating the safety supervision of ships, these Rules are developed in accordance with the Maritime Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China , the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China , the Port Law of the People's Republic of China , the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Traffic Safety on Inland Rivers , the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on Seafarers , other laws and regulations and the relevant international conventions China has concluded or acceded to. Article 2 These Rules shall apply to the safety supervision of ships of Chinese nationality, above-water facilities and ships of foreign nationalities which navigate, berth and operate in the water areas under the jurisdiction of China. These Rules shall not apply to military ships, fishing ships and ships for sports activities. Article 3 The supervision and administration of ship safety shall observe the principles of legality, impartiality, good faith and convenience for the people. Article 4 The Ministry of Transport shall take charge of the safety supervision of ships nationwide. The maritime safety administration of the state shall be uniformly responsible for the safety supervision of ships nationwide. Maritime safety administrations at all levels shall conduct the safety supervision of ships according to duties and authorization. Article 5 For the purposes of these Rules, “safety supervision of ships” means the safety supervision and administration activities conducted by maritime safety administrations in accordance with the law on whether the ships and relevant activities conducted by them conform to the provisions of laws, regulations, rules and relevant international conventions and regional cooperation organizations for port state control. Safety supervision of ships is divided into on-site supervision of ships and safety inspection of ships. “On-site supervision of ships” means the routine safety supervision and spot check of ships conducted by maritime safety administrations. “Safety inspection of ships” means the safety supervision and inspection of ships' safety and technical conditions for pollution prevention, the assignment of seafarers and their competency, and maritime labor conditions conducted by maritime safety administrations according to certain intervals, including the supervision and inspection of the flag state and the supervision and inspection of the port state. Article 6 Maritime safety administrations shall provide necessary personnel, equipment and materials, among others, so as to satisfy the requirements for the supervision and administration of ship safety. Article 7 The on-site supervision of ships shall be conducted by maritime administrative law enforcement officials with corresponding duties. Article 8 Maritime administrative law enforcement officials conducting the safety inspection of ships shall obtain qualification certificates of corresponding grades, and continuously update knowledge. Article 9 Maritime safety administrations shall establish the mechanism for the social supervision of safety conditions of ships, release the channels for filing reports and complaints, and improve the mechanism for handling reports and complaints. Maritime safety administrations shall keep confidential the information for the personnel filing reports or complaints. Chapter II Report on a Ship's Arriving in and Departing from Port Article 10 A ship of Chinese nationality that navigates in water areas under the jurisdiction of China shall report its arriving in and departing from port according to the relevant provisions. Article 11 A ship shall report the information on its arriving in and departing from port to the maritime safety administration that will depart from or arrive in the port four hours before the expected time of departure or arrival. If the voyage is less than four hours, a report shall be made before the ship departs from the former port. Where a ship navigates on fixed navigation lines and a single voyage does not exceed two hours, it may report the information on its arriving in and departing from port at least once every day. The ship shall be responsible for the integrity and authenticity of the report. Article 12 The information on the arriving in and departing from port reported by a ship shall cover the dynamic information on the voyage, information on the crew, information on the carriage of passengers and goods, and the expected time and place of arrival and departure, among others. Article 13 A ship may report the information on its arriving in and departing from port by such forms as the Internet, fax and short message, and make corresponding records in the ship's log book. Article 14 The maritime safety administration and the waterway transport administrative department shall establish an information platform to share the information on the ships' arriving in and departing from port . Chapter III Comprehensive Quality Management of Ships Article 15 The maritime safety administration shall establish a uniform information platform for the comprehensive quality management of ships, collect and process ship-related information, and establish archives on the comprehensive quality of ships. Article 16 The information platform for the comprehensive quality management of ships shall cover the following information: (1) Basic information on ships. (2) Information on the implementation of the provisions on ship safety and pollution prevention administration. (3) Information on water traffic accidents and pollution incidents. (4) Information on administrative penalty on water traffic safety violations imposed by maritime safety administrations. (5) Ships' acceptance of safety supervision. (6) Safety and honesty of shipping companies and ships. (7) Reports on ships' arriving in and departing from port or the handling of formalities on ships' arriving in and departing from port. (8) Payment of relevant fees and taxes in accordance with the relevant provisions. (9) Technical status of ship inspection. Article 17 The maritime safety administration shall assess the comprehensive quality of ships according to the information as mentioned in Article 16, and the comprehensive quality assessment result shall be released to the public. Chapter IV Safety Supervision of Ships Section 1 Selection of Target Ships of Safety Supervision Article 18 The maritime safety administration shall conduct the safety supervision of ships, and reduce unnecessary consequences caused to ships' normal production and operation. Article 19 The maritime safety administration of the state shall determine the standards for the selection of target ships of safety supervision. The maritime safety administration shall, in light of the actual circumstances of its jurisdiction, and under the principles of comprehensive coverage, highlighting the critical points, and openness and convenience, and in accordance with the standards for the selection of target ships prescribed by the regional cooperation organization for port state control to which China has acceded to and the maritime safety administration of the state, comprehensively consider the types of ships, age of ships, flaws of accepting ships' safety supervision in the past, and safety management of shipping companies, among others, and according to the prescribed intervals, select ships to conduct the safety supervision of ships. Article 20 For ships not included in the ship selection target according to the standards for the selection of target ships, the maritime safety administration will not board the ship to conduct ship safety supervision in principle, unless special inspection is conducted in accordance with the provisions of Article 21. Article 21 Where inspection is required in important holidays and major activities of the state, or for specific water areas, specific safety matters and specific ships, the maritime safety administration may conduct special inspection by comprehensively adopting such forms as sa......