Consultation on merchant shipping (counting and registration of persons on board passenger ships) (amendment) regulations 2020
This consultation seeks your views on a new Statutory Instrument (SI) which is required to amend the existing Regulations (The Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger Ships) Regulations 1999) (“SI 1999/1869”).
The most notable change introduced by the amended regulations is that from 20 December 2023, passenger numbers are to be reported to the National Single Window (NSW) or, alternatively, via the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS). In regards to personal passenger details such as forenames, date of birth and gender, these will need to be reported in the NSW.
The Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 will provide a more efficient and uniform method of collecting and reporting passenger information digitally. Introducing these amendments to previous regulations also provides a significant safety enhancement to current UK regulatory practices as information will be made available more rapidly via a centralised system to search and rescue authorities if there is an incident on, or involving a ship. By developing further our digital framework, this will reduce the delay in HM Coastguard response times thereby lowering the risk of lives at sea.