Reforms related to ship safety nearing completion

The legislative reform concerning the safety of passenger ships will be completed once the related decrees are specified and clarified.

Amendments, which will be technical in nature, will be made to the Decree on Inspecting Foreign Vessels in Finland. 

The Decree on Ensuring Safety of Ro-Ro and High-Speed Passenger Vessel Transport will be repealed. Already at an earlier stage of the reform, the contents of the Decree were included in the related Act. A ro-ro passenger ship refers to a ship that carries vehicles and more than 12 passengers. For example, car ferries belong to that category. 

The EU package on passenger ship safety includes three directives that have been implemented in Finland by three acts: Act on the Technical Safety and Safe Operation of Ships, Ship Safety Control Act, and Act on Lists of Persons Aboard Passenger Ships.

The aims of the package are to modernise, simplify and clarify the regulation and to reduce the administrative burden.

What next?

The first stage of the project is complete as the acts related to ship safety were approved on 8 February 2019. The Act relating to ship safety, as now amended, will enter into force on 21 December 2019. 

The current amendments will complete the national implementation of the EU directives on the safety of passenger ships.

The goal of the directives is to modernise, simplify and clarify regulation, reduce the administrative burden and ensure that the regulation is proportionate.  

Inquiries:

Katja Viertävä, Senior Government Adviser, tel. + 358 40 771 8522

Press release of 18 October 2018: Legislation on the safety of ships will be modernised
Government projects: National implementation of the package on passenger ship safety (LVM017:00/2018)
Act on the Technical Safety and Safe Operation of Ships (1686/2009)
Ship Safety Control Act (370/1995)
Act on Lists of Persons Aboard Passenger Vessels (1038/2009)
Government Decree on Inspecting Foreign Ships in Finland (1241/2010)
The Decree on Ensuring Safety of Ro-Ro Passenger Vessel and High-Speed Passenger Vessel Transport (95/2002)