The Cabinet of Ministers has made changes to the legislation related to shipping

The new draft law is aimed at revising the legal foundations of the organization of the state system of ensuring navigation safety.

The Cabinet of Ministers registered in the Verkhovna Rada the draft Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Merchant Shipping and Shipping on Inland Waterways.” Taras Melnychuk, deputy representative of the government in Verkhovna Rada, announced this.

The draft law provides for: 

Determination and standardization of the principles of navigation safety in the territorial sea, inland sea waters and in sea ports;

Determination of the competence of authorities in the formation and implementation of state policy, regulation of merchant shipping in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of ​​1982 and other international treaties;

Restoring, clarifying the status of the seaport captain, giving him powers that correspond to modern approaches to maritime safety;

Review and distribution of powers and functions of the head of the seaport (headed by the administration of the seaport) and the captain of the seaport (headed by the service of the captain of the seaport), corresponding clarification of the functions of the SE “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority”;

Implementation of the international regime for the protection of ships and seaports;

Implementation of a detailed vessel control mechanism in the seaport;

Clarifying the obligations of the shipowner and captain arising from the international treaties of Ukraine, in particular regarding the equipment, qualification, service and safety of the crew;

Correcting legislative gaps regarding the certification of seafarers (in particular, regarding crew members of fishing vessels and ordinary members of the crews of all vessels), provision of an exhaustive list of crew members whose positions are considered regulated professions according to international treaties of Ukraine or EU legislation and require certification;

Improvement of regulation of marine pilotage and regulation of vessel movement;

Improvement of the legal structure of the complex of requirements related to the qualification of the deck crew of inland navigation vessels (list of positions, qualification documents, procedure for issuance, cases of exclusion, validity period, consideration of age, medical indicators, etc.);

Clarification of the classification of inland waterways of a marine nature;

Implementation of modern requirements for handling ship waste in seaports;

Elimination of terminological, competence and substantive conflicts in the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine, the Water Code of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine “On Transport”, “On Sea Ports of Ukraine”, “On Local State Administrations”;

Revision of the functions of the central executive body that implements state policy in the fields of maritime and inland water transport and shipping in the Merchant Shipping Code, the laws of Ukraine “On Transport”, “On Inland Water Transport” and “On Sea Ports of Ukraine” in order to eliminate duplication of legislative norms and clarifying the distribution of competence;

Simplification of administrative procedures, establishment of a clearer list of powers of state bodies, exclusion of unnecessary administrative barriers, documents, etc., exclusion of licensing of business activities on sea and inland water transport;

Return of the requirements for navigation in the territorial sea and internal sea waters, which were excluded without sufficient justification from the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine together with Chapter 2 of Section IV “Navigation in the territorial sea, internal waters, seaport water areas”. In particular, we are talking about the organization of readiness, coordination and conduct of emergency rescue operations, intervention in the event of a threat of large-scale damage to the surrounding marine and coastal environment.

Also, the day before, the Cabinet of Ministers agreed to the forced withdrawal of the Odesa Refinery in the interests of the state.