Registration of persons on board passenger ships

KEY POINTS

Counting of persons on board

• All persons on board any passenger ship which departs from a port located in an EU country must be counted before that ship departs.
• Before the passenger ship departs the number of persons on board must be communicated to the ship’s master and to the company’s passenger registrar or to a shore-based company system that performs the same function.
• The ship’s master must ensure that the number of persons on board does not exceed the number the passenger ship is permitted to carry.

• The rules in Directive 98/41/EC regarding the counting and registration of all individuals on board prior to departure from EU ports have been amended in December 2017 to introduce the electronic transmission and sharing of information on persons on board.
• Directive (EU) 2017/2109 amends Directives 98/41/EC and 2010/65/EU introducing new rules which aim at digitalising the registration of ship passengers.
  • Its purpose is to ensure the immediate availability of the exact number of passengers and other information for the use of the search and rescue services in the event of an accident.
  • Under the new requirements, the number of persons on board will be communicated by means of either the national single windows or, if an EU country so chooses, to the designated authority by means of the Automatic Identification System¹ before the ship’s departure.
  • EU countries may decide to postpone the implementation of electronic reporting until 21 December 2023.

Information on persons on board

• Where a passenger vessel departs from an EU port on a trip of more than 20 nautical miles (EU countries may lower this threshold), the following information must be collected and registered:
  • first name and surname;
  • nationality;
  • gender;
  • date of birth;
  • any requirement for special assistance (when this information has been volunteered by a passenger); and
  • contact number (if the EU country so chooses and when this information is volunteered by the passenger).
• This information must be recorded within 15 minutes after the ship’s departure.
• The counting of and registering information about persons on board is also required for vessels which depart from a port located outside the EU but which are bound for an EU port, whether or not the vessel is flying the flag of an EU country.

Exemptions or derogations

• EU countries may grant certain exemptions or request derogations concerning passenger counting and registration for ships provided that:
  • Exemption from Art. 4.2: they are not high-speed craft, operate regular services of less than 1 hour between port calls exclusively in sea area D (under Directive 2009/45/EC — Article 4) and the proximity of search and rescue facilities is ensured in that sea area;
  • Exemption from Art. 5: they are sailing between 2 ports or from and to the same port without intermediate calls, operate exclusively in sea area D and the proximity of search and rescue facilities is ensured in that sea area;
  • Derogation: they operate regular services in an area where the probability of wave height exceeding 2 metres is less than 10% and — either the entire voyage is less than 30 miles from departure — or a public service obligation exists for outlying communities.
• Germany may extend the periods for the collection and reporting of information to 1 hour after departure in the case of passenger ships operating from and to the Island of Heligoland; and
• Denmark and Sweden may extend the periods for the collection and reporting of information to 1 hour after departure in the case of passenger ships operating from and to the Island of Bornholm.