### Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance 《商船(海員)條例》

10. Persons required to be registered and renewal of registration
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 2)(1) A person who holds an identity card and whose name is not entered in Part I of the register shall not be employed in sea-going ships as a seafarer. (Amended 23 of 1998 s. 2)
(2) A person who holds an identity card and whose name is not entered in Part I or Part II of the register shall not be employed in coastal-going ships as a seafarer.
(3) A registered person shall, in any continuous 3-year period of registration, be employed as a seafarer for an aggregate of not less than 18 months. (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 2; E.R. 5 of 2021)
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Ordinance, the registration of a person shall expire at the expiration of one month after he is first in Hong Kong on or after the expiration of each continuous 3-year period of registration except where— (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 2; E.R. 5 of 2021)
(a) before the expiration of that month, he submits to the Superintendent his employment registration book; and
(b) the Superintendent—
(i) being satisfied that the person has complied with subsection (3); or
(ii) not being satisfied that the person has complied with subsection (3) but being of the opinion, after consultation with the Authority, that there is some good reason why the person has not complied with that subsection,
renews his registration by inserting a note to that effect in that book, in which case that renewal of registration shall be deemed to have taken effect immediately after the expiration of that 3-year period and this subsection shall next apply accordingly. (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 2; E.R. 5 of 2021)
(5) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, employs a person as a seafarer in contravention of subsection (1) or (2) commits an offence and is liable on conviction—
(a) in the case of an individual, to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 2 years; and
(b) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine at level 5.

### Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance 《商船(海員)條例》

12. Disqualification for entry of person’s name in register
(1) Subject to the sections specified in subsection (2), a person whose name has been removed from the register under section 28(1) or (2) is not entitled to have the person’s name entered in the register again.
(2) The sections are—
(a) section 15;
(b) section 28(5);
(c) section 32(1)(a);
(d) section 36(2) and (3); and
(e) section 38.
(Replaced 16 of 2013 s. 11)

13. Particulars to be entered in register
(1) Subject to this section, the register shall, depending on the part of the register in which the name of a person appears, contain in relation to that person such particulars as the Superintendent thinks fit.
(2) Where a person’s name appears in the register, there shall be recorded against his name— (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 12)
(a) the address for the time being supplied by the person to the Superintendent as the address to which any notice or other document required or permitted by this Ordinance to be served on the person may be sent by post or to which any other notice or document sent to the person for the purposes of this Ordinance may be addressed;
(b) the telephone number, if any, for the time being supplied by the person to the Superintendent as the telephone number in Hong Kong at which he may be contacted when in Hong Kong;
(c) if the person is employed as a seafarer, the capacity and rank in which the person is so employed; (Replaced 16 of 2013 s. 12)
(d) any qualifications, endorsements or special training the person has obtained or received which relate to his occupation as a seafarer;
(e) particulars of any removal of his name from the register, or suspension under this Ordinance of the registration of the person, and particulars of any disciplinary action taken under this Ordinance against the person; and
(f) particulars of his employment as a seafarer contained in his employment registration book and, if his registration has been renewed under section 10(4), the date on which that registration as renewed was deemed to take effect under that section.
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 12)

### Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance 《商船(海員)條例》

14. Change of seafarer’s rank
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 13)(1) Where it comes to the notice of the Superintendent that a seafarer whose name appears in the register has been promoted to a rank higher than that recorded in relation to him in the register, the Superintendent shall cause the new rank to be recorded in the register instead of the seafarer’s former rank unless, after such inquiry as he thinks fit, the Superintendent is of the opinion that the seafarer was promoted without sufficient cause.
(2) Where it comes to the notice of the Superintendent that the rank recorded in the register in relation to a seafarer has been lowered, the Superintendent shall cause the new rank to be recorded in the register instead of the seafarer’s former rank unless, after such inquiry as he thinks fit, the Superintendent is of the opinion that the seafarer’s rank was lowered without sufficient cause.
(3) Where it comes to the notice of the Superintendent that a seafarer whose name appears in the register has fulfilled such requirements as the Authority may, after consultation with the Advisory Board, specify for the purpose, the Superintendent must alter the seafarer’s rank to a higher rank in the same grade or to a rank in a different grade.
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 13)