Cap. 234 Art. 217Passenger ships safety certificates and exemption certificates.

(1) If the Minister, on receipt of declarations of survey in respect of a Maltese passenger ship, is satisfied that the ship complies with the construction and survey rules, the rules for life-

saving appliances, the radio rules, and the rules for direction-finders, applicable to the ship and to such international voyages as she is to be engaged on, and that she is properly provided with the lights, shapes and means of making fog-signals required by the collision regulations, he shall, on the application of the owner, issue in respect of the ship a certificate showing that the ship complies with the requirements of the Safety Convention applicable as aforesaid; and any certificate issued under this sub-article is in this Act referred to as a "general safety certificate": Provided that, if the voyages on which the ship is to be engaged are short international voyages and she complies only with such of those rules as are applicable to those voyages, the certificate shall show that the ship complies with the requirements of the Safety Convention applicable to her as a ship plying on short international voyages; and any such certificate is in this Act referred to as a "short-voyage safety certificate".

(2) If the Minister, on receipt of declarations of survey in respect of any such passenger ship as aforesaid is satisfied that the ship is exempt, by virtue of any exercise by him of a power in that behalf conferred on him by his Act or by the rules in question, from any of the requirements of the construction and survey rules, rules for life-saving appliances, radio rules, or rules for direction-finders, applicable to the ship and to such international voyages as she is to be engaged on, whether short voyages or otherwise, and that she complies with the rest of those requirements and that she is properly provided with the lights, shapes and means of making fog-signals required by the collision regulations, he shall, on the application of the owner, issue in respect of the ship -

(a) an exemption certificate stating which of the requirements of the Safety Convention applicable as aforesaid the ship is exempt from and that the exemption is conditional on the ship’s plying only on the voyages, and being engaged only in the trades, and complying with the other conditions (if any), specified in the certificate; and

(b) a certificate showing that the ship complies with the rest of those requirements; and any certificate issued under paragraph (b) is in this Act referred to as a "qualified safety certificate" or a "qualified short-voyage safety certificate", as the case may be.