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

57. Valid Convention certificates
(1) This section applies to any ship not registered in Hong Kong, which—
(a) is registered in a Convention country or, not being registered in any such country or elsewhere, flies the flag of a Convention country; and
(b) is either an existing ship of not less than 150 tons gross tonnage or a new ship of not less than 24 metres in length.
(2) The Director may, at the request of the government of the parent country of a ship to which this section applies, cause the ship to be surveyed and, if the Director is satisfied that the requirements of the Convention of 1966 are complied with, the Director may—
(a) issue or authorize the issue of, in respect of the ship, a certificate in such form as may be prescribed by the Convention of 1966; or 
(b) where appropriate, endorse or authorize the endorsement of a certificate issued in respect of the ship in accordance with the Convention of 1966. (Replaced 10 of 2009 s. 17)
(2A) A certificate issued pursuant to a request under subsection (2) and containing a statement that it has been so issued has effect for the purposes of this Part as if the certificate had been issued by the relevant government. (Added 10 of 2009 s. 17)
(3) Certificates issued as mentioned in subsection (2) shall be included among the certificates to be called “International Load Line Certificates”. (Amended 6 of 2000 s. 15)

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

58. Compliance with load line regulations
(1) Subject to subsection (2), and to any exemption conferred by or under this Ordinance, no ship not being a ship registered in Hong Kong shall proceed, or attempt to proceed, to sea from Hong Kong unless—
(a) the ship has been surveyed in accordance with the load line regulations;
(b) the ship is marked with a deck-line and with load lines in accordance with those regulations;
(c) the ship complies with the conditions of assignment; and
(d) the information required by those regulations to be provided for the guidance of the master of the ship has been so provided.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a ship in respect of which a valid Convention certificate is produced.
(3) If any ship proceeds or attempts to proceed to sea in contravention of subsection (1) the owner or master of the ship commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 3. (Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)
(4) Any ship which in contravention of this section attempts to proceed to sea without being surveyed and marked as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and (b) may be detained until it has been so surveyed and marked.
(5) If any such ship as is mentioned in subsection (1), not being a ship in respect of which a valid Convention certificate is produced, does not comply with the conditions of assignment, section 72 has effect in relation to the ship as if it were unsafe for the purposes of that section. (Amended 23 of 1998 s. 2; 10 of 2009 s. 18)

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

59. Submersion of load lines
(1) Where a ship not registered in Hong Kong is within the waters of Hong Kong, the ship shall not be so loaded that its condition at any time is such that—
(a) if the ship is in salt water and has no list, the appropriate load line on each side of the ship is submerged; or
(b) in any other case, the appropriate load line on each side of the ship would be submerged if the ship were in salt water and had no list.
(2) Subsections (2), (3), (5) and (6) of section 49 shall have effect for the purposes of this section as if any references in those subsections to subsection (1) of that section, or to paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of the said subsection (1), were a reference to subsection (1), or (as the case may be) to the corresponding paragraph of subsection (1), of this section:
Provided that, in the case of a ship to which section 57 applies, the ship shall not be detained, and no proceedings shall be brought by virtue of this subsection, unless the ship has been inspected by a Government surveyor in pursuance of section 61.
(3) In relation to a ship in respect of which a valid Convention certificate is produced, load line (載重線) in subsection (1) means a line marked on the ship in the position of a load line specified in that certificate; and for the purposes of the application of the relevant provisions to such a ship in any circumstances for which a particular load line is specified in the certificate, the appropriate load line (適當載重線) means the maximum depth to which the ship may, in accordance with the certificate, be loaded in salt water in those circumstances.
(4) Where a valid Convention certificate is not produced in respect of a ship, then, for the purposes of the application of the relevant provisions to that ship in any circumstances prescribed by the load line regulations the appropriate load line (適當載重線) means the maximum depth to which the ship may, in accordance with those regulations, be loaded in salt water in those circumstances.
(5) In subsections (3) and (4) the relevant provisions (有關條文) means the provisions of subsection (1) and any provisions of section 49 as applied by subsection (2).

60. Production of certificate to Director
Subject to any exemption conferred by or under this Part, before a ship to which section 57 applies proceeds to sea from Hong Kong on an international voyage, the master of the ship shall produce a valid Convention certificate to the Director; and a clearance shall not be granted, and the ship may be detained, until such a certificate is so produced.

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

61. Provisions as to inspection
(1) Subject to this section, a Government surveyor may inspect any ship not registered in Hong Kong while the ship is within the waters of Hong Kong and for the purposes of any such inspection he shall have all the powers conferred by section 115.
(2) Any such Government surveyor may go on board any ship to which section 57 applies, while the ship is within the waters of Hong Kong, for the purpose of demanding production of any International Load Line Certificate for the time being in force in respect of the ship. (Amended 6 of 2000 s. 16)
(3) If on any such demand a valid Convention certificate is produced to the surveyor in respect of the ship, the powers of the surveyor under subsection (1) shall be limited to seeing that—
(a) the ship is not loaded beyond the limits allowed by the certificate;
(b) lines are marked on the ship in the positions of the load lines specified in the certificate;
(c) no material alterations have taken place in the hull or superstructures of the ship which affect the position in which any of those lines ought to be marked; and
(d) the fittings and appliances for the protection of openings, the guard rails, the freeing ports and the means of access to the crew’s quarters have been maintained on the ship in as effective a condition as they were in when the certificate was issued.
(4) If on an inspection of a ship under this section the ship is found to have been so materially altered in respect of the matters referred to in paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of subsection (3) that the ship is manifestly unfit to proceed to sea without danger to human life, section 72 has effect in relation to the ship as if it were unsafe for the purposes of that section. (Amended 23 of 1998 s. 2; 10 of 2009 s. 19)
(5) Where a ship is detained under the provisions applied under subsection (4), the Director shall order the ship to be released as soon as he is satisfied that the ship is fit to proceed to sea without danger to human life.