S.I. No. 64/1989 - Merchant Shipping (Weighing of Goods Vehicles) Regulations, 1989.

S.I. No. 64 of 1989.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (WEIGHING OF GOODS VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1989.

I, BRENDAN DALY, Minister for the Marine in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 11 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1947 (No. 46 of 1947) and the Communications (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1987 ( S.I. No. 91 of 1987 ), hereby make the following Regulations:

1 Citation, interpretation and application.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Weighing of Goods Vehicles) Regulations, 1989.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of May, 1989.

2 ..

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"harbour premises" in relation to any harbour, means the docks, landing places and other works and land for the time being vested in, belonging to or administered by the relevant harbour authority;

"Marine Notice" means a Notice described as such and issued by the Department of the Marine;

"the Minister" means the Minister for the Marine;

"qualifying goods vehicle" means—

( a ) a goods vehicle within the meaning of the Road Traffic (Construction Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 ( S.I. No. 190 of 1963 ),

( b ) a goods trailer within the meaning aforesaid, or

( c ) a goods semi-trailer within the meaning aforesaid,

that weighs more than 7.5 tonnes;

"ship" means a ship for the carrying of more than 12 passengers which is propelled by electricity or other mechanical power, is provided with cargo or vehicle spaces in which vehicles or cargo can be loaded or unloaded in a horizontal direction, is of Class II or IIA within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Rules, 1985 ( S.I. No. 274 of 1985 ), and is either registered in the State or is within a port in the State;

"specified by the Minister" means specified in a Marine Notice.

(2) A reference in these Regulations to the owner shall, in the case of a ship managed by a person other than its owner (whether on behalf of the owner or some other person or on his own behalf) be construed as including a reference to that person.

(3) A reference in these Regulations to a numbered Regulation is a reference to the Regulation of that number in these Regulations.

(4) A reference to a Marine Notice includes a reference to any subsequent Marine Notice amending or replacing the Marine Notice.

3 Provision of weight information to ferry operators.

3. (1) Subject to paragraph (3) of this Regulation, a qualifying goods vehicle shall not be loaded on to a ship in a harbour in the State unless the information specified in Regulation 4 as to its weight is supplied to the ferry operator at or before the time of its loading.

(2) The information referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be used for the purposes of ensuring that the ship concerned is loaded in a manner which will satisfy the stability requirements of Rules 10 and 11 of the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) Rules, 1983 ( S.I. No. 300 of 1983 ), or Rules 10 and 11 of the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Rules, 1985 ( S.I. No. 274 of 1985 ), whichever are applicable.

(3) Paragraph (1) of this Regulation does not apply to a motor vehicle which is used only for loading trailers or semi-trailers on to, and unloading them from, a ship.

4 Valid information as to weight.

4. (1) The information referred to in Regulation 3 shall consist of:

( a ) a certificate, or a machine-readable record of a type specified by the Minister, obtained from a weighbridge or other weighing machine situated within the harbour premises of the harbour at which the ship is to be loaded, or

( b ) data in a form, and transmitted electronically by a system, specified by the Minister, obtained from a weighbridge or other weighing machine specified by the Minister, for use for the purpose of these Regulations

giving the weight of the qualifying goods vehicle concerned and any load being carried by it.

(2) In exceptional circumstances, information obtained, with the consent of the Minister, from a weighbridge or other weighing machine situated outside the premises of the harbour at which the ship is berthed, may be accepted as valid information as to weight.

(3) The information referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Regulation shall relate—

( a ) in the case of a goods vehicle, to the vehicle and its load, if any (but excluding its driver and any passenger carried by it), and

( b ) in the case of a trailer or semi-trailer, either to it and its load or to it and its load and that of the tractor concerned whose weight in its operating configuration shall be given on a plate affixed to the vehicle.

(4) In paragraph (3) of this Regulation, the references to the load of a vehicle include references to—

( a ) any water, fuel or accumulators used for the purpose of power for the propulsion of the vehicle, and

( b ) any loose tools and loose equipment.

5 Retention of information.

5. The certificate, records and data referred to in Regulation 4 shall be retained in accordance with arrangements specified by the Minister and shall be made available to the Department of the Marine on request made during that period provided for in the arrangements.

6 False statements.

6. A person shall not—

( a ) supply information for the purpose of these Regulations if he knows or has grounds for believing that it is false, or

( b ) forge a document purporting to be a certificate or record referred to in Regulation 4 (1) ( a ) or use such a document or an altered certificate or record, or altered data referred to in Regulation 4 (1) ( b ), with intent to deceive.

7 Defences.

7. (1) It shall be a defence to a charge of an offence under section 11 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1947 , consisting of a contravention of these Regulations for the person charged to show that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.

(2) Where, in purported compliance with Regulation 3, false information is supplied to a ferry operator and the master or owner of the ship concerned is charged with an offence under the said section 11 in respect of the contravention of Regulation 3, it shall be a defence for him to show that he had no reason to think that the information was false.

8 Exemptions.

8. (1) The Minister may, subject to such conditions (if any) as he may specify, exempt from compliance with Regulation 3 any specified class of ship.

(2) The Minister may, subject to such conditions (if any) as he may specify, exempt from Regulation 5 certificates, records or data of a specified class.

(3) An exemption under this Regulation may, upon giving reasonable notice of his intention to do so to those concerned, be revoked by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 31st day of March, 1989.

BRENDAN DALY,

Minister for the Marine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations apply to ro/ro passenger ships registered in the State and to ro/ro passenger ships other than those registered in the State while they are within a harbour in the State, and require the weighing of all goods vehicles of over 7.5 tonnes for all voyages on which passengers are carried. They require information to be retained for future inspection. It is an offence under the Regulations by the master and by the owner or manager of a ship if qualifying goods vehicles are loaded in breach of the Regulations. It is also an offence for any person to supply information for the purpose of the Regulations knowing or having grounds to believe it to be false, or to falsify information required for the purpose of the Regulations.