NtS 329/2004 Transitional measures concerning the phased entry into force of the Ships Decree 2004 and the phased withdrawal of the Ships Decree 1965

The Head of the Shipping Inspectorate, Noting Article 174, first paragraph, of the Ships Decree 1965;

Announces:

Article 1 Application
1. This Notice applies to ships for which a ship safety certificate pursuant to the Ships Decree 1965 is required.
2. As of 1 January 2005 a ship safety certificate is no longer required for:
a. ships for which pursuant to the Ships Decree 2004 an international passenger ship safety certificate, an international cargo ship safety certificate or an international high-speed craft safety certificate, belonging to the HSC Code 1994 or the HSC Code 2000, is required;
b. ships for which pursuant to the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels or the Regulation Safety Netherlands Antillian and Aruban Seagoing Vessels a certificate, belonging to the MODU Code 1979, the MODU Code 1989, the DSC Code or the SPS Code, is required;
c. ships for which pursuant to the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels the passenger ship safety certificate, belonging to Directive 98/18/EC is required.

Article 2 Requirements for non-convention ships, not being small vessels
1. A ship for which a ship safety certificate is required, not being a small vessel, complies with:
a. the Chapters II-1, II-2, III, IV, V of the SOLAS Convention;
b. the Articles 21, 22, first paragraph, 23, 24 and 25 of the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels or, when it concerns a ship which is entitled to fly the flag of the Kingdom pursuant to Netherlands Antillian or Aruban rules of law, the Articles 14 up to 18 of the Regulation Safety Netherlands Antillian and Aruban seagoing vessels.
2. Ships as referred to in the first paragraph, not being ships as referred to in Article 4 of the Ships Decree 2004, also comply with the requirements of the Load Line Convention as regards the ship safety certificate.
3. For cargo ships of less than 500 GT the exemptions and restrictions listed in table 1 are applicable.

Table 1. Cargo ships of less than 500 GT

Treaty requirement:	Exemptions or reductions
SOLAS II-1/37	No engine room telegraph required for cargo ships
SOLAS II-1/43	Article 43a of Annex II to the Ships Decree 1965 applies to cargo ships < 500 GT
SOLAS II-2/10.2.2.3.3 (II-2/4.3.3.4 old)(1)	On cargo ships < 500 GT no additional provisions for supplying water to the fire main required
SOLAS II-2/10.2.1.6.2 and II-2/10.2.3.3.3 (II-2/4.4.2 and II-2/4.8.3 old)(1)	For cargo ships < 500 GT 1 nozzle is sufficient, provided that the prescribed pressure can be maintained therewith, and 1 jet of water, where only one hose length may be used.
SOLAS II-2/10.10 (II-2/17 old)(1)	On board of cargo ships < 500 GT one fireman's axe is required instead of the 2 prescribed fireman's outfits.
SOLAS II-2/15.2.4 (II-2/20 old)(1)	For cargo ships < 24 m no fire safety plan is required.

⁽¹⁾ the entry “old” refers to Chapter II-2 of the SOLAS Convention, as effective before 1 July 2002.

Article 3 Requirements for small vessels
1. Small vessels comply with the requirements of the Load Line Convention, the SOLAS Convention and the Ships Decree 1965 which are applicable according to table 2.
2. They also comply with the Articles 21, 22, first paragraph, 23, 24 and 25 of the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels or, if it concerns a ship which is entitled to fly the flag of the Kingdom pursuant to Netherlands Antillian or Aruban rules of law, the Articles 14 up to 18 of the Regulation Safety Netherlands Antillian and Aruban seagoing vessels.
3. The requirements of the Ships Decree 1965 which are applicable to small vessels are read in connection with the requirements of the Load Line Convention and the SOLAS Convention which are applicable to those vessels.

Table 2. Small vessels

Subject:	Load Line Convention and SOLAS:	Ships Decree 1965:
Freeboard	Annex I to the Load Line Convention(1), exempt for the requirements 12, 17 to 20, 22 to 25, 27 to 30, 39 and 40	Articles 72 to 77 and 79 to 86 of Annex I to the Ships Decree 1965
Construction, watertight subdivision and stability, engine room and electrical installations	SOLAS Chapter II-1: requirements 1 to 3, 9, 13 to 20-1, 21,22,24,26 to 28, 32 to 36, 39, 40, 42-1, 46, 48 and 52.	Articles 56 to 67 and 69 to 71 of Annex II to the Ships Decree 1965
Protection against fire and fire detection and fire fighting	SOLAS Chapter II-2(2): requirements 1 to 3, 6, 8 to 10, 12, 15, 18, 21, 22, 50, 51, 53, 54 and 55 to 63	Articles 65 to 76 of Annex IV to the Ships Decree 1965.
Life-saving appliances and arrangements	SOLAS Chapter III: requirements 1 to 5, 6.2.2, 9 to 14, 16, 17, 20, 24, 27, 33 to 37.	Articles 55 to 59 of Annex XIA to the Ships Decree 1965
Radio communication	SOLAS Chapter IV	Not applicable
Navigation	SOLAS Chapter V	Not applicable

⁽¹⁾ Annex I to the Load Line Convention, as effective before 1 January 2005
⁽²⁾ Chapter II-2 of the SOLAS Convention, as effective before 1 July 2002.

Article 4 Surveys and issue of certificates
1. The surveys to which a ship in connection with the ship safety certificate is subjected, as of 1 January 2005 aim at checking whether the ship complies with the requirements as referred to in the Articles 2 and 3.
2. For ships, not being vessels as referred to in Article 4 of the Ships Decree 2004, the ship safety certificate issued for these ships is accompanied by an appendix concerning the freeboard of those ships. Instead of this appendix a valid international or national load line certificate, issued before 1 January 2005, may suffice.
3. The Articles 24, first paragraph, 31 and 35 of the Ships Decree 2004 are equally binding.

Article 5 Exemptions for sailing ships and ships without mechanical means of propulsion
1. Sailing ships of less than 500 GT, used for the carriage of not more than 36 passengers, and ships not being provided with mechanical means of propulsion, are exempted from the requirements concerning navigation as referred to in Article 41 of the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels and Article 25 of the Regulation Safety Netherlands Antillian and Aruban Seagoing Vessels.
2. Ships not being provided with mechanical means of propulsion, are also exempted from the Chapters III and IV of the SOLAS Convention and, if it concerns a small vessel, Annex XIA to the Ships Decree 1965, provided that on board of a manned ship which is towed to its destination:
a. radio communication with the towing ship is possible;
b. sufficient life-saving devices for the crew are available, to the satisfaction of the Head of the Shipping Inspectorate.

Article 6 Transitional measures for existing ships
On ships, constructed before 1 January 2005, the requirements of the SOLAS Convention pursuant to this Notice, insofar as the ship not already complies with them, are only applicable, as far as this is practical and reasonable, provided the requirements which pursuant to the Ships Decree 1965 were effective on 31 December 2004 are at least complied with.

Article 7 Entry into force
This Notice enters into force as of 1 January 2005.

This Notice, together with its Explanatory Notes, will be published in the Government Gazette, the Official Gazette of the Netherlands Antilles and the Country Gazette of Aruba.

The Head of the Shipping Inspectorate,
F.J.H. Mertens.

Explanatory Notes General

This Notice is linked to the establishment of the new Ships Decree 2004 and the further entry into force of that Decree as of 1 January 2005. On that date the new Decree, which has already entered into force on 1 July 2004 concerning the security of seagoing vessels, will also enter into force with regard to the other obligations, with the exemption of the provisions concerning the new `national safety certificate' (see Article 6 of the Decree). The introduction of this new certificate still requires some preparation and will therefore only take place in mid 2005. For the category of ships for which a national safety certificate will be required in the new situation, the ship safety certificate pursuant to the Ships Decree 1965 will remain mandatory during a short time. In connection herewith certain Articles of the Ships Decree 1965 remain applicable to those ships.
This Notice concerns ships for which a ship safety certificate will still be required after 1 January 2005. Also for these ships the international scopes will already be joined as much as possible: Dutch requirements which are actually copies of international requirements, will already be replaced by references to the relevant international requirements as of 1 January 2005. This has two advantages. First, this facilitates the transition to the new situation under the Ships Decree 2004, in which will be frequently referred to international requirements, also in connection with the national safety certificate to be introduced (cf. Article 41 of that Decree). In the new situation in principle only the national details (like, for example, the less stringent requirement for ships smaller than 24 m) will still be written out.
The second advantage of already joining the international terms now is connected with the deregulation operation which has been executed analogous to the establishment of the new Ships Decree. Under the old Decree small national supplements were often yet added to the Dutch copies of international requirements. The major part of these supplements will be cancelled for convention ships as of 1 January 2005, when the new Decree enters into force for these ships. For those ships in principle only the 'true' international requirements will be effective, because of the system of reference to Conventions. For non-convention ships, on the other hand, the new reference system of the Ships Decree 2004 will only become effective as soon as the national safety certificate enters into force in mid 2005. This would mean that the national supplements will remain effective longer for non-convention ships than for convention ships. To prevent this, a system of reference to Conventions will also be introduced as much as possible for non-convention ships in this Notice.
The sometimes minor dimensions of non-convention ships imply that not in all cases can be referred to international requirements in full. This applies mainly to ships of less than 24 m, for which there are specific requirements tailored to the minor dimensions of those ships (the so-called `Requirements small vessels'). These specifc requirements will indeed remain effective; the more stringent international requirements are not applicable in that case. Furthermore, certain mitigations apply in relation to the Conventions for ships of less than 500 GT. These will also be maintained. In the explanation of the Articles at the Articles 2 and 3 the less stringent requirements for smaller non-convention ships will be examined further.

Explanatory Notes Explanation of the Articles

Article 1
This Notice only applies to ships for which a ship safety certificate will still be required as of 1 January 2005. Actually, this concerns the remaining category of ships for which no international safety certificate pursuant to Article 5 of the Ships Decree 2004 and also no special certificate pursuant to the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels or the Regulation Safety Netherlands Antillian and Aruban seagoing vessels is required. To be perfectly clear, in the second paragraph the categories of ships are mentioned, for which the new Ships Decree 2004 enters into force as of 1 January 2005 and for which no longer a ship safety certificate is required as of that date.

Article 2
This Article regulates the requirements applicable to non-convention ships, except for the so-called 'small vessels'. For the small vessels special requirements have been included in Article 3. The requirements of the SOLAS Convention are in principle equally binding to non-convention passenger ships (insofar as these ships are not covered by Directive 98/18/EC for passenger ships in national service) and non-convention cargo ships of less than 500 GT. Herewith Article 41 of the Ships Decree 2004, which will enter into force in mid 2005 when the national safety certificate is also introduced, is already joined. The equal bindingness of the requirements of the Load Line Convention to ships which are formally not covered by that Convention, also joins that new Article. From a material viewpoint, the situation which will be effective for non-convention ships as of 1 January 2005, does not differ anyway from the situation at the time of the Ships Decree 1965. At the time of the old Decree the international requirements of the Conventions were actually also applied to these ships.
Pursuant to the Ships Decree 1965, certain reductions and exemptions in relation to the SOLAS Convention applied to cargo ships of less than 500 G. These particulars, which for purposes of review have been included in a table, are maintained in Article 2 (see the third paragraph). The table includes references to SOLAS Chapter II-2 as that reads now, as well as references to the text of Chapter II-2 as that read before 1 July 2002. This is meant to simplify the transition of the Ships Decree 1965, in which the text of Chapter II-2 which was effective since 1 July 2002 has not yet been implemented, to the current SOLAS text.
In the first paragraph, item b, reference is also made for the sake of brevity to a number of provisions of the new implementation regulations under the Ships Decree 2004. This does not concern new requirements, but already existing requirements which are maintained in the new situation. For further explanation, reference is made to the Explanatory Notes to the relevant Regulations.

Article 3
For the so-called `small vessels' a special regime was effective pursuant to the Ships Decree 1965, which partly consisted of (copied) international requirements and partly of specific requirements for small vessels (the `Requirements Small Vessels'). In table 2 an itemization of all these requirements is made, where for the requirements, which actually come from the Conventions, from now on is referred directly to these Conventions. Together with the 'Requirements Small Vessels' from the Ships Decree 1965 mentioned in the table, these references to the Conventions provide the same set of requirements as until now under the Ships Decree 1965.
In the table reference is still made to the old text of SOLAS Chapter II-2 and the old text of Annex I to the Load Line Convention. The recent amendments of Chapter II- 2 (as of 1 July 2002) and Annex I to the Load Line Convention (as of 1 January 2005) will become effective for small vessels at a later time. First has to be found out more specifically which reductions and exemptions are necessary for small vessels in relation to those new texts. It is intended to actualise the requirements for small vessels at the same time as the introduction of the national safety certificate (mid 2005) and to harmonize it with the most recent text of the Conventions.
For an explanation to the second paragraph, reference is made to the Explanatory Notes to Article 2, first paragraph, item b. The third paragraph states that the requirements for small vessels should be read from now on in connection with the applicable international requirements from: Government Gazette 21 December 2004, no. 246 / pag. 32 3. This means that references to the international requirements which were formerly copied as Dutch requirements should be read as direct references to those international requirements as of 1 January 2005.
Finally, it is remarked that within the scope of the deregulation operation certain requirements for small vessels have been cancelled (see, for example, Article 78 of Annex I to the Ships Decree 1965). This concerns supplementary national requirements concerning issues for which also for ships not being small vessels, no supplementary national requirements will be effective as of 1 January 2005.

Article 4
In the first paragraph of this Article a linking is made between the transitory regime for non-convention ships laid down in this Notice and the surveys to which a ship in connection with the ship safety certificate is subject to after 1 January 2005. Those surveys no longer aim at checking whether the requirements of the Ships Decree 1965 (largely withdrawn as of 1 January 2005) have been met, but at checking whether the requirements mentioned in this Notice are complied with.
In the new system of the Ships Decree 2004 the national safety certificate for non-convention ships not only replaces the ship safety certificate , but also the national load line certificate. The data concerning the freeboard of ships will then be included in an appendix to the national safety certificate and no longer in a separate certificate. This applies also to ships of more than 24 m which undertake national voyages, which formally are not covered by the Load Line Convention after all. For those ships a separate international load line certificate is no longer required, but an appendix to the national safety certificate will suffice.
The new system of the Ships Decree 2004 is already anticipated as of 1 January 2005. Beginning from that date, no separate load line certificate will be required anymore for ships which are not covered by the Load Line Convention. The relevant provisions of the Ships Decree 1965 are withdrawn as of 1 January 2005. The data concerning the freeboard will be included in an appendix to the ship safety certificate beginning from that date: see the second paragraph of the Article involved. This does not mean, by the way, that beginning from 1 January 2005 all load line certificates which have already been issued at once should be exchanged for an appendix to the ship safety certificate . As long as a load line certificate issued before 1 January 2005 is still valid, this certificate may actually serve as an `appendix' to the ship safety certificate . At the issue of new or renewal of ship safety certificates the data concerning the freeboard, however, will indeed be included in an appendix and a new or a renewal load line certificate will not be issued anymore.
The third paragraph states that a number of provisions of the Ships Decree 2004 is equally binding. Article 24 relates to the maintenance of the condition of a ship after survey, Article 31 contains a number of special regulations concerning the extension of certificates and Article 35 sees to the rectification of expired certificates.

Article 5
For sailing ships and ships without mechanical means of propulsion from way back exemptions apply to the requirements those ships have to comply with. The first paragraph of the Article involved concerns the requirements that ships have to meet pursuant to Chapter V of the SOLAS Convention (safety and navigation). For a more detailed explanation, reference is made to the explanation to Article 41 of the Regulation of Safety for Seagoing Vessels, respectively Article 25 of the Regulation of Safety for Netherlands Antillian and Aruban seagoing vessels. The second paragraph of this Article is similar to the former regulations in Article 1 of Annex V and Article 2 of Annex XIA to the Ships Decree 1965.

Article 6
This Article functions as a safety net provision. Although the requirements for non-convention ships mentioned in this Notice in principle do not deviate from the requirements for non-convention ships under the Ships Decree 1965, it is always possible that there are nevertheless small discrepancies between the requirements which had to be met by a ship on 31 December 2004 and the requirements as of 1 January 2005. The Article involved regulates that a ship not suddenly needs to comply with requirements in such a case, which reasonably cannot be met. A similar provision is included in Article 72, fourth paragraph, of the Ships Decree 2004.

Article 7
The time of entry into force of this Notice concurs with the moment on which the largest part of the Ships Decree 1965 is withdrawn.

The Head of the Shipping Inspectorate,
F.J.H. Mertens.

• Informatietype: Informatie voor uitvoering
• Documentsoort: Bekendmaking aan de sector
• Toegangsrechten: Extern
• Identificatie: PUC_1157_14
• Versie: 1
• Datum beschikbaarheid: 11-07-2006
• Geldigheid van: 01-01-2005
• Wijzigingsdatum: 24-11-2016
• Titel: NtS 329/2004 Transitional measures concerning the phased entry into force of the Ships Decree 2004 and the phased withdrawal of the Ships Decree 1965
• Organisatie: Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport
• Taal: Engels
• Onderwerp: Veiligheid / Safety
• Hoofdtaak: Koopvaardij / Merchant Shipping
• Thema: Zeevaart / Seagoing ships / Mandatory Regulations / National Instruments (Mandatory) / Bekendmakingen aan de Scheepvaart / Notices to Shipping / Notices to Shipping