National System for Domestic Commercial Vessel Safety (National System) to commence 1 July 2013
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) will become the National Regulator for domestic commercial vessels and administrator of the National System from 1 July this year.
The commencement date brings to fruition the decision made by Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Ministers in August 2011 to take a national approach to marine safety regulation.
The Navigation Act 2012 will also commence on 1 July 2013. This Act modernises the century old Navigation Act 1912, providing the maritime industry with a clear, transparent and flexible maritime safety regime. More information...
Compliance and Enforcement Policy
AMSA has released a new Compliance and Enforcement Policy to reflect major reforms in maritime legislation due to come into effect this year.
The policy outlines how we will use the powers under our respective maritime legislation to ensure the safety of Australia’s maritime activities and the protection of our marine environment. It lets the community and the industry know how we will enforce laws and standards to manage safety and environmental risks.
While not resulting in any immediate changes to current practices, the Compliance and Enforcement Policy may impact seafarers, commercial vessel owners and operators, coastal pilots, surveyors and the vessel construction industry, and they are encouraged to view the policy on our website.
National Standards for Commercial Vessels
The National Standards for Commercial Vessels have been in service for a number of years and are now generally well understood and applied around Australia. In addition to their domestic use, there has been growing interest across the Asia-Pacific region in using them.
With the introduction of AMSA as the single national regulator later this year, the opportunity has arisen to re-cast some of the provisions contained in the standards to improve and better align with new legislation.
Against this background AMSA’s Standards and Operations team will start a program to revise the entire suite of National Standards from June 2013.
