Council Directive 98/41/EC of 18 June 1998 on the registration of persons sailing on board passenger ships operating to or from ports of the Member States of the Community
Date: 1998-06-18

num: Article 1
paragraphs: The purpose of this Directive shall be to enhance the safety and possibilities of rescue of passengers and crew on board passenger ships operating to or from ports in Member States of the Community and to ensure that search and rescue and the aftermath of any accident which may occur can be dealt with more effectively.
num: Article 2
paragraphs: For the purposes of this Directive:
- 'persons` shall mean all people on board irrespective of age,
- 'passenger ship` shall mean a sea-going ship or a sea-going high-speed craft which carries more than twelve passengers,
- 'high-speed craft` shall mean a high-speed craft as defined in Regulation 1 of Chapter X of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, as in force at the time of the adoption of this Directive,
- 'company` shall mean the owner of a passenger ship or any other organisation or person such as the manager or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed responsibility for operating the passenger ship from the owner,
- 'ISM Code` shall mean the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through Assembly Resolution A.741(18) of 4 November 1993,
- 'passenger registrar` shall mean the responsible shore-based person designated by a company to fulfil the ISM Code obligations or a shore-based person designated by a company as responsible for the keeping of information on persons who have embarked on a company passenger ship,
- 'designated authority` shall mean the competent authority of the Member State responsible for search and rescue or concerned with the aftermath of an accident,
- 'a mile` is 1 852 metres,
- 'protected sea area` shall mean a sea area sheltered from open sea effects where a ship is at no time more than six miles from a place of refuge where shipwrecked persons can land and in which the proximity of search and rescue facilities is ensured,
- 'regular service` shall mean a series of ship crossings operated so as to serve traffic between the same two or more ports, either:
(a) according to a published timetable, or
(b) with crossings so regular or frequent that they constitute a recognizable systematic series,
- 'third country` shall mean any country which is not a Member State.
num: Article 3
paragraphs: This Directive shall apply to passenger ships with the exception of:
- ships of war and troop ships, and
- pleasure yachts unless they are or will be crewed and carry more than twelve passengers for commercial purposes.
num: Article 4
paragraphs: 1. All persons on board any passenger ship which departs from a port located in a Member State shall be counted before that passenger ship departs.
2. Before the passenger ship departs the number of persons on board shall be communicated to the master of the passenger ship and to the company's passenger registrar or to a shore-based company system that performs the same function.
num: Article 5
paragraphs: 1. The following information shall be recorded regarding every passenger ship that departs from a port located in a Member State to undertake a voyage of more than twenty miles from the point of departure:
- the family names of the persons on board,
- their forenames or initials,
- their sex,
- an indication of the category of age (adult, child or infant) to which each person belongs, or the age, or the year of birth,
- when volunteered by a passenger, information concerning the need for special care or assistance in emergency situations.
2. That information shall be collected before departure and communicated not later than thirty minutes after the passenger ship's departure to the company's passenger registrar or to a shore-based company system that performs the same function.
num: Article 6
paragraphs: 1. Each Member State shall, as regards every passenger ship that flies its flag and departs from a port located outwith the Community and is bound for a port located within the Community, require the company to ensure that the information specified in Articles 4(1) and 5(1) is provided as laid down in Articles 4(2) and 5(2).
2. Each Member State shall, as regards every passenger ship that flies the flag of a third country and departs from a port located outwith the Community and is bound for a port located within the Community, require the company to ensure that the information specified in Articles 4(1) and 5(1) is collected and maintained so that it is available to the designated authority when needed for purposes of search and rescue and in the aftermath of an accident.
3. Where under the relevant SOLAS provisions a Member State grants an exemption or derogation relating to the information concerning passengers to a ship flying its flag arriving at a port located within the Community from a port located outwith the Community, it may do so only under the conditions laid down for exemptions or derogations in this Directive.
num: Article 7
paragraphs: Before a passenger ship departs from a port located in a Member State its master shall ensure that the number of persons on board does not exceed the number the passenger ship is permitted to carry.
num: Article 8
paragraphs: Each company assuming responsibility for operating a passenger ship shall, where required under Articles 4 and 5:
- set up a system for the registration of passenger information. The system shall meet the criteria laid down in Article 11,
- appoint a passenger registrar responsible for the keeping and the transmission of that information should an emergency occur or in the aftermath of an accident.
The company shall ensure that the information required by this Directive is at all times readily available for transmission to the designated authority for search and rescue purposes in the event of an emergency or in the aftermath of an accident.
Personal data collected in accordance with Article 5 shall not be kept longer than necessary for the purposes of this Directive.
The company shall ensure that information concerning persons who have declared a need for special care or assistance in emergency situations is properly recorded and communicated to the master before the passenger ship departs.
num: Article 9
paragraphs: 1. A Member State from a port in which a passenger ship departs may lower the twenty-mile threshold laid down in Article 5.
Any decision lowering that threshold for journeys between two ports in different Member States shall be taken jointly by those two Member States.
2. (a) When implementing Article 4(1) the Italian Republic may, for regular services crossing the Strait of Messina, adopt provisions for counting the maximum number of persons permitted to be carried on board a passenger ship carrying passenger-train carriages and road vehicles on the basis of the maximum number of passengers authorised to be carried by train carriages and all other vehicles on board, if the persons cannot be counted individually for operational reasons. The application of this provision shall be limited to a period of four years. Any extension shall be decided, in accordance with paragraph 3, in the light of the experience gained.
(b) A Member State from a port in which a ship departs may exempt passenger ships operating, exclusively in protected sea areas, regular services of less than one hour between port calls from the obligation laid down in Article 4(2) to communicate the number of persons on board to the passenger registrar or to a shore-based company system that performs the same function.
(c) A Member State may exempt passenger ships sailing, exclusively in protected sea areas, between two ports or from and to the same port without intermediate calls from the obligations laid down in Article 5.
3. In the circumstances set out in paragraph 2, the following procedure shall apply:
(a) the Member State shall without delay inform the Commission of its decision to grant an exemption or a derogation from the relevant provisions of Articles 4 and 5 giving substantive reasons therefor;
(b) if within six months of such notification the Commission considers that that decision is not justified or could have adverse effects on competition, it may, acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13, require the Member State to amend or withdraw its decision.
4. For regular services in an area where the annual probability of the significant wave height's exceeding two metres is less than 10%, and
- if the voyage does not exceed about thirty miles from the point of departure or
- where the primary purpose of the service is to provide regular links to outlying communities for customary purposes,
a Member State from a port in which passenger ships sail on domestic voyages or two Member States between ports in which passenger ships sail may request the Commission, if they consider it impracticable for companies to record the information specified in Article 5(1) to derogate, wholly or partly, from this requirement.
To this end, evidence of such impracticability shall be provided. In addition, it shall be demonstrated that in the area where such ships operate, shore-based navigational guidance and reliable weather forecasts are provided and that adequate and sufficient search and rescue facilities are available. Derogations granted under this paragraph may not have any adverse effect on competition.
A decision shall be taken in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13.
5. A Member State shall not, under the provisions of this Directive, exempt or grant derogations to any passenger ship sailing from its ports and flying the flag of a third country that is a contracting party to the SOLAS Convention which under the relevant SOLAS provisions does not agree to the application of such exemptions.
num: Article 10
paragraphs: The registration systems set up in accordance with Article 8 shall be approved by the Member States.
Member States shall at least carry out random checks on the proper functioning of the registration systems set up pursuant to this Directive within their territories.
Each Member State shall designate the authority to which the companies covered by Article 8 shall communicate the information required by this Directive.
num: Article 11
paragraphs: 1. For the purposes of this Directive registration systems shall meet the following functional criteria:
(i) readability:
the required data must be in a format that is easy to read,
(ii) availability:
the required data must be easily available to the designated authorities for which the information contained in the system is relevant,
(iii) facilitation:
the system must be designed in such a way that no undue delay is caused for passengers embarking and/or disembarking the vessel;
(iv) security:
the data must be appropriately protected against accidental or unlawful destruction or loss and unauthorised alteration, disclosure or access.
2. A multiplicity of systems on the same or similar routes is to be avoided.
num: Article 12
paragraphs: Without prejudice to the procedures for amending the SOLAS Convention, this Directive may be amended in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13, in order to ensure the application, for the purposes of this Directive and without broadening its scope, of subsequent amendments to the SOLAS Convention relating to the registration systems which have entered into force after the adoption of this Directive.
num: Article 13
paragraphs: The Commission shall be assisted by the committee set up pursuant to Article 12(1) of Directive 93/75/EEC. The committee shall operate in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 of that Article.
num: Article 14
paragraphs: Member States shall lay down systems of penalties for breaching the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and shall take all the measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are applied. The penalties thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
num: Article 15
paragraphs: 1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 January 1999. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. Article 5 shall be applied no later than 1 January 2000.
2. When the Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain references to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such references on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such references shall be laid down by the Member States.
3. The Member States shall immediately communicate to the Commission the texts of all provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive. The Commission shall inform the other Member States thereof.
num: Article 16
paragraphs: This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day after its publication.