The Ministry of Transport and Communication of Finland announced that the legislative reform concerning the safety of passenger ships will be completed once the related decrees are specified and clarified. Amendments 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The Decree on Ensuring Safety of Ro-Ro and High-Speed Passenger Vessel Transport will be repealed.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.
In addition, the European package on passenger vessel 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;
- Act on Lists of Persons Aboard Passenger Ships.
The package aims to modernise, simplify and clarify the regulation and decrease the administrative burden.
According to the Ministry, the first stage of the project, concerning ship safety, was approved on February 8, 2019; Whereas, the Act linked to ship safety will come into operation on December 21, 2019. The current amendments will complete the national implementation of the EU directives on the safety of passenger ships.
