### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

5. Appointment of Government surveyors
(1) The Secretary may appoint persons to be Government surveyors for the purposes of this Ordinance. (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; 10 of 2009 s. 38)
(2) Persons appointed as Government surveyors may be appointed as ship surveyors, nautical surveyors, engineer surveyors or radio surveyors, or in more than one of such capacities.

6. Powers and duties of Government surveyors
(1) For the purpose of ensuring that this Ordinance has been complied with, a Government surveyor may at all reasonable times go on board a ship and inspect the ship and its equipment or any part thereof, any articles on board, and any document carried in the ship in pursuance of this Ordinance, the Merchant Shipping (Registration) Ordinance (Cap. 415) or rules or regulations made thereunder. (Amended 74 of 1990 s. 104; 10 of 2009 s. 5)
(2) In making an inspection under this section, a Government surveyor shall have all the powers conferred by section 115.
(3) A Government surveyor may inspect any ship under this section notwithstanding that it may be exempt from any provision of this Ordinance.

7. Returns by Government surveyors
(1) A Government surveyor shall make such returns to the Director as he may require with respect to the build, dimensions, draught, cubic capacity, speed, fuel capacity, and the nature and particulars of machinery and equipment, and specifying the number of the certificated officers and seamen of ships surveyed by him.
(2) The owner, master and engineer of any ship so surveyed shall, on demand, give to the surveyor all such information and assistance within his power as he may require for the purpose of a return under subsection (1).
(3) Any owner, master or engineer who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a demand under subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 2. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

8. Approval of organizations to survey ships and issue certificates
(1) The Secretary may approve any organization for the purposes of surveying ships and issuing certificates under this Ordinance.
(2) Every certificate issued by any organization approved by the Secretary under subsection (1) shall have effect for the purposes of this Ordinance as if it had been issued by the Director.
(Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; 10 of 2009 s. 6)

### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

9. Annual survey of passenger ship
(1) Subject to subsection (2), every passenger ship shall be surveyed at intervals of not more than 12 months in the manner provided in this Part.
(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to Convention passenger ships plying on international voyages which hold accepted Convention certificates.
(3) No passenger ship shall clear outwards or proceed on any voyage from Hong Kong unless the master has the certificates as to survey required under this Part which are in force and applicable to the voyage on which the ship is about to proceed.
(4) Any passenger ship attempting to go to sea may be detained until the certificates mentioned in subsection (3) are produced to the Director.

10. Mode of survey and declaration of survey
(1) The owner or master of a passenger ship to which section 9 applies shall have the ship surveyed by a Government surveyor.
(2) The surveyor conducting a survey under subsection (1) shall, if satisfied that he can properly do so, complete a declaration of survey in such form as the Director may approve and forward the completed declaration to the Director.
(3) A declaration of survey under subsection (2) shall state—
(a) the limits, if any, beyond which the ship is not fit to ply; and
(b) the number of passengers which the ship is fit to carry, distinguishing, if necessary, the numbers to be carried on the deck and in the cabins,
and shall, if the circumstances so require, state any conditions and variations, according to the time of year, the nature of the voyage, the cargo carried, or other circumstances to which that number is subject.
(4) If in the opinion of the surveyor a passenger ship is fit to ply on international voyages while engaged in a special trade for the carriage of large numbers of special trade passengers, such as the pilgrim trade, his declaration of survey under subsection (2) shall so state.
(5) A passenger ship (including a Convention passenger ship) which is not registered in Hong Kong plying on a non-international voyage shall be surveyed and certificated further to the requirements equivalent to those which would be applied to a passenger ship which is registered in Hong Kong plying on a non-international voyage, whether such requirements are prescribed under this Ordinance or otherwise, or if not so prescribed, determined according to the Director’s approval under subsection (2). (Added 5 of 1993 s. 3)

### Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance 《商船(安全)條例》

11. Survey of ships other than passenger ships
(1) The owner or master of a ship to which this section applies shall have the ship surveyed to such extent, in such manner and at such intervals as may be prescribed by the cargo ship construction and survey regulations.
(2) The surveyor conducting a survey under subsection (1) shall, if satisfied that he can properly do so, complete a declaration of survey and forward the completed declaration to the Director.
(3) This section applies to—
(a) ships of not less than 500 tons gross tonnage;
(b) ships of not less than such lower tonnage and of such description as the Director may by order specify; (Amended 10 of 2009 s. 7)
(c) ships not registered in Hong Kong only while they are in the waters of Hong Kong and are not exempt from the cargo ship construction and survey regulations,
other than passenger ships.

12. Appeal to court of survey
(1) If an owner or master is aggrieved—
(a) by a declaration of a surveyor under this Part, or by the refusal of a surveyor to give the said declaration; or
(b) by the refusal of a certificate of clearance under this Ordinance,
the owner or master may appeal, in the manner prescribed by regulations, to a court of survey, and upon its appointment by the Chief Executive such court may make such order with respect to the costs of any such investigation as it thinks fit, and such costs shall be paid accordingly, and shall be recoverable in the same manner as costs in summary proceedings before any magistrate.
(2) On such appeal, the court of survey shall report to the Chief Executive on the question raised by the appeal, and the Chief Executive, when satisfied that the requirements of the report and this Ordinance and any other enactment have been complied with, may require the Director to give the certificates required.
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 8)

13. No appeal in certain cases
Where the survey of a ship is made for the purpose of a declaration under this Part, the person appointed to make the survey shall, if so required by the owner or master, be accompanied on the survey by some competent person appointed by the owner or master, to be approved by the Director, and in such case, if those 2 persons agree, there shall be no appeal to the court of survey as provided by section 12.

14. Issue of passenger certificate
If the Director, on receipt of a declaration of survey under section 10 in respect of a passenger ship, is satisfied that this Part has been complied with, he shall, on the application of the owner, agent or master, issue a passenger certificate stating such compliance and stating the terms of the declaration in accordance with section 10(3) and (4).