Cyprus’ Shipping Deputy Ministry issued the Merchant Shipping (Fees and Dues with respect to Ocean Going Commercial Cyprus Ships) Regulations 2019 (Administrative Act 322/2019), which presents the new fees and charges for ocean-going commercial ships, registered in Cyprus, that came into force in September 17, 2019.
Costas Stamatiou and Yiota Georgiou from the Elias Neocleous & Co LLC law office, present the newly-launched fees and charges, informing that the regulations are implemented to the ‘ocean-going commercial Cyprus ships’ as Cyprus ships which carry out their usual activity outside Cyprus’s territorial sea for commercial purposes.
Based on the Ministry’s Circular 16/2019, the aim of the new regulations is to:
- Make simpler the relevant fees and dues to respond to the existent shipping needs
- Round up the relevant amounts, thus make easier the payment procedure.
In addition, fees that were thought to be obsolete were abolished.
The regulations also include fees concerning the registration of ships and other transactions with the shipping registry.
The regulations further set out fees and dues on:
- tonnage measurements for ships, depending on whether they are longer than 24 metres;
- the issuance of certificates to seafarers;
- the endorsement of logbooks;
- the reissuance of civil liability insurance certificates (regarding oil pollution damage, bunker oil pollution, pollution by carriage of hazardous and noxious substances and liability for the death or personal injury of passengers in accordance with the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention);
- the approval of exemptions or special arrangements; and
- the examination and approval of studies, plans and manuals (eg, the approval of intact or damage stability studies and loading condition studies).
