"Accommodation space" means any space, enclosed on all six
sides by solid divisions, provided for the use of persons on-board;
"Administration" means the Government of the State whose
flag the ship is entitled to fly;
"Annual examination" means a general or partial examination
of the vessel, its machinery, fittings and equipment, as far as can
readily be seen, to ascertain that it had been satisfactorily maintained
as required by the Code and that the arrangements, fittings and equipment
provided are as documented in the Compliance Examination and Declaration
report form SCV2. The hull, shell fittings, external steering and
propulsion components of the vessel should be examined out of the
water at intervals not exceeding 5 years. The Certifying Authority
may stipulate a lesser interval in consideration of hull construction
material or the age or the type and service of the vessel;
"Affiliated club" means a club which is affiliated to a
national governing body of sport;
"Approved" means approved by or acceptable to the MCA under
Merchant Shipping legislation, unless otherwise specified in the Code;
"Authorised person" means a person who by reason of relevant
professional qualifications, practical experience or expertise is
authorised by the Certifying Authority chosen by the owner/managing
agent from those listed in the Code to carry out examinations required
under Section 27 of the Code;
"Bare boat charter" means a charter for which the charterer
provides the skipper and the crew;
"Boats fitted with a buoyant collar" means a rigid inflatable
vessel, or a vessel of similar hull form, where the inflatable tubes
are replaced by solid, or hollow, buoyant sections;
"Cargo" for the purpose of the Code means all items which
are transported by the vessel except fuel for the vessel, ballast
(either solid or liquid), consumables to be used onboard, permanent
outfit and equipment of the vessel, stores and spare gear for the
vessel, crew and their personal baggage and passengers and their personal
baggage, and activity related equipment;
"Category C waters" means waters designated category C waters
in the Merchant Shipping (Categorisation of Waters) Regulations 1992,
SI 1992 No. 2356 and Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1776(M);
"Category D waters" means waters designated category D waters
in the Merchant Shipping (Categorisation of Waters) Regulations 1992,
SI 1992 No. 2356 and Merchant Shipping Notice 1776(M);
"Certificate" means the certificate appropriate to a vessel
to which the Code is applied. See section 1.1;
"Certifying Authority" means either the MCA or one of the
organisations authorised by the MCA to:-
The organisations so authorised by the MCA for all vessels covered
by the Code, including dedicated pilot boats are as follows:-
- American Bureau of Shipping
- Bureau Veritas
- Burness Corlett & Partners Limited
- Germanischer Lloyd
- International Institute of Marine Surveyors
- Clasifications Register of Shipping
- MECAL Ltd
- Registro Italiano Navale (Rina)
- Royal Yachting Association
- Society of Consulting Marine Engineers & Ship Surveyors
- Yacht Designers & Surveyors Association;
"Charter" means an agreement between the owner/managing
agent and another party which allows that other party to operate the
vessel, and the "Charterer" is that other party;
"Code" means this Code unless another Code is specified;
"Compartment" means all living and working spaces within
the watertight or fire-resisting boundaries on any one level which
have inter-communicating access;
"Competent harbour authority" has the same meaning as it
has in the Pilotage Act 1987;
"Competent Authority" in respect of manning qualifications
(Annex 6) means either the Maritime and
Coastguard Agency or an organisation that issues Certificates of Competence
which has applied for and been granted recognition by the Maritime
and Coastguard Agency as having the appropriate technical and administrative
expertise;
"Compliance examination" means an examination of the vessel,
its machinery, fittings and equipment, by an authorised person, to
ascertain that the vessel's structure, machinery, equipment and fittings
comply with the requirements of the Code. Part of the examination
should be conducted when the vessel is out of the water. For vessels
of similar type the Certifying Authority may exercise discretion in
carrying out the compliance examination entirely out of the water;
"Control position" means a conning position which is continuously
manned whilst the vessel is under way;
"Crew" means a person employed or engaged in any capacity
on-board a vessel on the business of the vessel;
"Critical Downflooding" is deemed to occur when openings
having an aggregate area, in square metres, greater than:-
are immersed. Moreover, it is the angle at which
the lower edge of the actual opening which results in critical flooding
becomes immersed. All openings regularly used for crew access and
for ventilation should be considered when determining the downflooding
angle. Air pipes to tanks can, however, be disregarded. Where an appropriate
ISO standard is used, the definition should be taken from those standards
as applicable;
"Daylight" means one hour before sunrise until one hour
after sunset;
"Decked vessel" means a vessel with a continuous watertight
weather deck which extends from stem to stern and has positive freeboard
throughout, in any condition of loading of the vessel. Where an appropriate
ISO standard is used, the definition should be taken from those standards
as applicable;
"Design Category" means a description of the wind and sea
conditions for which a vessel is considered suitable under the EU
Recreational Craft Directive 94/25/EC of 16th June 1994,
and used for the application of relevant ISO and CEN standards. See
table below;
| Design category
|
Wind
force
(Beaufort scale)
|
Significant wave
height (H 1/3, metres)
|
| A - 'Ocean'
|
Exceeding 8
|
Exceeding 4
|
| B- 'Offshore'
|
Up to, and including, 8
|
Up to, and including 4
|
| C - 'Inshore'
|
Up to, and including, 6
|
Up to, and including, 2
|
| D - 'Sheltered waters'
|
Up to, and including, 4
|
Up to, and including, 0, 50.3
|
"Efficient" in relation to a fitting, piece of equipment
or material means that all reasonable and practicable measures have
been taken to ensure that it is suitable for the purpose for which
it is intended. See 1.15;
"Existing vessel" means a vessel already in possession of
a Small Commercial Vessel Certificate, issued under a previous Code
of Practice, see Section 1.2, prior to the
date of this Code coming into force;
"Favourable weather" means wind, sea and visibility conditions
which are deemed by the skipper to be safe for a small vessel to operate
within the limits applied to it; or, in any other case means conditions
existing throughout a voyage or excursion in which the effects either
individually or in combination of swell, height of waves, strength
of wind and visibility cause no hazard to the safety of the vessel,
including handling ability.
In making a judgement on favourable weather, the skipper should
have due regard to official weather forecasts for the service area
of the vessel or to weather information for the area which may be
available from the MCA or similar coastal safety organisation;
Forms used by Certifying Authorities are typically:-
- Application for examination (SCV1)
- Compliance Examination and Declaration (SCV2)
- Stability Application - Motor or Sail
- Small Commercial Vessel Certificate
- Compliance and Declaration of a Pilot Boat
- Dedicated Pilot Boat Certificate
"Freeboard" means the distance measured vertically downwards
from the lowest point of the upper edge of the weather deck to the
waterline in still water or, for an open vessel, the distance measured
vertically downwards from the lowest point of the gunwale to the waterline;
"High Holding Power (HHP) Anchor" means an anchor that can
be shown to have holding powers of at least twice those of a standard
stockless anchor of the same mass;
"Immediate family" means, in relation to an individual,
the spouse of that individual, a relative of that individual and a
relative of the spouse of that individual;
"Immersion Suit" means a protective suit which reduces the
body heat-loss of a person wearing it in cold water and complies with
the requirements of Schedule 10, Part 1 of MSN 1676 (M);
"Inflatable Boat" means a vessel which attains its form
through inflatable tubes only, which are not attached to a solid hull;
"Land" means the sea shore above the line of mean high water
mark;
"Length" means the overall length from the foreside of the
foremost fixed permanent structure to the aftside of the aftermost
fixed permanent structure of the vessel. With regard to inflatable,
rigid inflatable boats, or boats fitted with a buoyant collar, length
should be taken from the foremost part of tube or collar, to the aft
most part of the tube or collar.
"Load Line Length" means either 96% of the total length
on a waterline at 85% of the least moulded depth measured from the
top of the keel, or the length from the foreside of the stem to the
axis of the rudder stock on that waterline, whichever is the greater.
In a vessel designed with a rake of keel, the waterline on which this
length is measured should be parallel to the design waterline;
"Long international voyage" means any voyage where a vessel
is more than 200 miles from a safehaven, or the length of the voyage
from departure to arrival more than 600 miles
"Maritime and Coastguard Agency" means the Maritime and
Coastguard Agency (MCA), an executive agency of the Department for
Transport;
"Maximum permissible weight" means the maximum total permissible
weight of persons and their effects, cargo, and activity related equipment,
i.e. diving equipment;
"MED" means the EU Marine Equipment Directive;
"Members club" means an affiliated club under the rules
of which -
-
(a) a person may not-
-
(i) be admitted to membership; or
-
(ii) be admitted, as a candidate for membership,
to any of the privileges of membership,
without an
interval of at least two days between his nomination or application
for membership and his admission;
-
(b) a person who becomes a member without prior
nomination or application may not be admitted to the privileges of
membership without an interval of at least two days between his becoming
a member and his admission;
-
(c) any profits of the club may not be distributed
to the members of the club,
"Member State of the European Economic Area" means a State
which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic
Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by the Protocol signed
at Brussels on 17 May 1993;
"Merchant Shipping Act", "Merchant Shipping Order", "Merchant
Shipping Regulations" and "Merchant Shipping Rules" referred to in
the Code mean the reference specified and includes the document issued
under the appropriate statutory power which either amends or replaces
the reference specified;
"Merchant Shipping Notice" (MSN) means a Notice described
as such and issued by the MCA, and reference to a specific Merchant
Shipping Notice includes reference to any Merchant Shipping Notice
amending or replacing that Notice which is considered by the Secretary
of State to be relevant from time to time and is specified in a Merchant
Shipping Notice;
"Mile" means a nautical mile of 1852 metres;
"Motor vessel" means a power driven vessel which is not
a sailing vessel;
"Multihull vessel" means any vessel which in any normally
achievable operating trim or heel angle, has a rigid hull structure
which penetrates the surface of the sea over more than one separate
or discrete area;
"National governing body of sport" means a national governing
body for a sport or activity conducted on or in water which is recognised
by -
-
(a) the English Sports Council (known as Sport
England);
-
(b) the Sports Council for Northern Ireland;
-
(c) the Sports Council for Wales; or
-
(d) the Sports Council for Scotland (known as
sportscotland);
"New vessel" means a vessel not in possession of a Certificate
issued in accordance with one or more of the Codes of Practice listed
in 1.2 prior to the date of this Code coming
into force;
"Nominated departure point" means the designated point of
departure of the vessel, as specified on the vessels certificate.
Where this point lies within Category C or Category D waters, it is
to be taken as the seaward boundary of these waters.
"Officer", in relation to a body corporate, means -
-
(a) a director, manager, secretary or other similar
officer of the body corporate, or a person purporting to act in any
such capacity, or
-
(b) an individual in accordance with whose directions
or instructions the directors of that body corporate, or of any other
body corporate which is its controller, are accustomed to act;
"Open boat" for the application of the Code means a vessel
which within its length is:-
- not fitted with a watertight weather deck; or
- is fitted with a watertight weather deck over part of its length;
or
- is fitted with a watertight weather deck over the whole of its
length but the freeboard to the deck does not meet the minimum requirement
for freeboard (Section 12);
"Owner/managing agent" means the registered owner, or the
owner or managing agent of the registered owner or owner, or owner
ipso facto, as the case may be, and "Owners/managing agents" should
be construed accordingly;
"Passenger" means any person carried on a ship except:
-
(a) a person employed or engaged in any capacity
on the business of the vessel,
-
(b) a person on board the vessel either in pursuance
of the obligation laid upon the master to carry shipwrecked, distressed
or other persons, or by reason of any circumstance that neither the
master nor the owner nor the charterer (if any) could have prevented
or forestalled,
-
(c) a child of under one year of age
"Pilot boat" means a boat employed or intended to be employed
in pilotage services, and "Dedicated pilot boat" means a pilot boat
of whatever size which is primarily employed in pilotage services
and other occasional services undertaken such as the carriage of personnel,
mail, and/or small quantities of stores to or from vessels in the
pilotage district;
"Pleasure vessel" as defined in the Merchant Shipping (Small
Commercial Vessels and Pilot Boats) Regulations 2004, means;
-
(a) a vessel which-
-
(b) a vessel which-
-
(c) a vessel -
-
(i) which is owned by or on behalf of the members
of a members' club,
-
(ii) which, at the time it is being used, is used
only for the sport or pleasure of a member of that club, his immediate
family or his guest, and
-
(iii) for the use of which no payment is made
other than a payment into the funds of the members club which funds
are applied for the general use of the members club.
In this definition, "free voyage or excursion" means a voyage
or excursion in respect of which -
-
(a) subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) , no money
is paid, and no goods or services are provided, by any person;
-
(b) the owner of the vessel engaged in the voyage
or excursion may pay money, or provide goods and services, to any
person; and
-
(c) the owner of the vessel engaged in the voyage
or excursion may only receive -
-
(i) money for, or in connection with, the operation
of the vessel or the carrying of any person in the vessel as a contribution
to the direct expenses of the operation of the vessel incurred during
the voyage or excursion, or
-
(ii) goods and services which are used or provided
on the vessel during the voyage or excursion.
"Proprietors club" means any club that is not a members
club;
"Protected Waters" means waters not categorised in Merchant
Shipping (Categorisation of Waters) Regulations 1992, SI 1992 No.
2356 and Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1776(M), but the location of
which are explicitly defined and accepted as protected by the Regional
Chief Surveyor of the MCA responsible for the specified UK coastal
area, having regard for the safety of the small vessels which operate
in those waters;
"Recess" means an indentation or depression in a deck and
which is surrounded by the deck and has no boundary common with the
shell of the vessel. Where an appropriate ISO standard is used, the
definition should be taken from those standards as applicable;
"Relative" means brother, sister, ancestor, or lineal descendant;
"Renewal examination" means a similar examination to the
Compliance examination;
"Rigid inflatable boat" means a vessel with inflatable tubes,
attached to a solid hull. The tubes are inflated during normal craft
operation;
"Safe haven" means a harbour or shelter of any kind which
affords safe entry and protection from the force of weather;
"Sailing vessel" means a vessel which is designed to be
navigated under wind power alone and for which any motor provided
is an auxiliary means of propulsion and/or which possesses a non-dimensional
ratio of (sail area) divided by (volume of displacement)2/3 of
more than 7;
"Similar stage of construction" means a stage at which construction
identifiable with a specific vessel begins, and assembly of that vessel,
comprising at least 1% of the estimated mass of all structural material,
has commenced;
"Single handed operation" means operation where no-one other
than the skipper is on-board;
"Small vessel" means a vessel of less than 24 metres in
load line length, or a vessel of less than 150 tons, where the keel
of that vessel was laid, or where the vessel was at a similar stage
of construction, before 21st July 1968;
Standards such as BS (British Standard), EN (European Standard
accepted by the European Committee for Standardisation, CEN), IEC
(International Electrotechnical Commission) and ISO (International
Organisation for Standardisation) identified in the Code should include
any standards which amend or replace them;
"To sea" means beyond category D waters, or category C waters
if there are no category D waters;
"United Kingdom ship " means a vessel as defined in Section
85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c.21);
"Void space" is any space, having no practical function
on board the vessel, not capable of readily collecting water under
normal operating circumstances;
"Watertight" means capable of preventing the passage of
water in either direction;
"Weather deck" means the main deck which is exposed to the
elements;
"Weathertight" means capable of preventing the admission
of a significant quantity of water into the vessel when subjected
to a hose test;
"Workboat" in the Code means a small vessel in commercial
use for purposes other than sport or pleasure other than a dedicated
pilot boat.