Cap. 234 Art. 282References of detentionnotices court of survey. 

(1) Any question as to whether any of the matters to specified in relation to a ship in a detention notice in pursuance of article 281 of this Act in connection with any opinion formed by the Registrar-General constituted a valid basis for that opinion shall, if the master, or the owner, or the bareboat charterer of the ship so requires by a notice given to the Registrar-General within ten days from the service of the detention notice, be referred to the court of survey.

(2) Where a notice is given by the master, or the owner, or the bareboat charterer of the ship in accordance with sub-article (1), the giving of the notice shall not suspend the operation of the detention notice unless, on the application of the person requiring the reference, the court of survey so directs.

(3) The court of survey shall have regard, in coming to its decision, to any other matter not specified in the detention notice which appear to it to be relevant to whether the ship was or was not an unsafe ship.

(4) Where on a reference under this article the court of survey decides as respects any matter to which the reference relates, that in all the circumstances the matter did not constitute a valid basis for the Registrar-General’s opinion, it shall either cancel the detention notice or affirm it with such modifications as it may in the circumstances think fit; and in any other case the court of survey shall affirm the notice in its original form.

(5) The court of survey shall include in its decision a finding whether there was or was not a valid basis for the detention of the ship as an unsafe ship.

(6) Where the owner or master of a foreign ship, being at a port in Malta, appeals to the court of survey, the consular officer referred to in article 281, on his request, may appoint a competent person to be assessor in lieu of the assessor who, if the ship were a Maltese ship, would be appointed otherwise than by the Minister.