Port Security Regulations 2009: amendments for clarity

The Port Security Regulations 2009 bring into force Directive 2005/65/EC, a legislative act of the European Parliament about enhancing port security. Minor amendments are proposed which add clarity and bring the regulations more in line with the directive.

In particular these amendments are:

• the onus of producing the port security assessment is placed back on the Secretary of State for Transport rather than the designated port security authority (PSA)
• the label “port facility locality” is introduced to describe what exists before the PSA is designated since the definition of “port” describes what exists after designation when the PSA boundary has been delineated
• a standard 5 year review clause is inserted in line with the coalition government’s Better Regulation principles

The proposed amendments do not affect the ongoing process of implementing the port security directive at ports currently considered in the scope of it.