### Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance 《商船(本地船隻)條例》

8. Approval of codes of practice by Director
(1) Subject to subsection (8), for the purpose of providing practical guidance in respect of any requirements under this Ordinance, the Director may—
(a) approve and issue such codes of practice (whether prepared by him or not) as in his opinion are suitable for that purpose; and
(b) approve such codes of practice issued or proposed to be issued otherwise than by him as in his opinion are suitable for that purpose.
(2) Where a code of practice is approved under subsection (1), the Director shall, by notice in the Gazette—
(a) identify the code concerned and specify the date on which its approval is to take effect; and
(b) specify for which of the requirements under this Ordinance the code is so approved.
(3) The Director may—
(a) from time to time revise the whole or any part of any code of practice prepared by him under this section; and
(b) approve any revision or proposed revision of the whole or any part of any code of practice for the time being approved under this section,
and the provisions of subsection (2) shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to the approval of any revision under this subsection as they apply in relation to the approval of a code of practice under subsection (1).
(4) The Director may at any time withdraw his approval from any code of practice approved under this section.
(5) Where under subsection (4) the Director withdraws his approval from a code of practice approved under this section, he shall, by notice in the Gazette, identify the code concerned and specify the date on which his approval of it is to cease to have effect.
(6) References in this Ordinance to an approved code of practice are references to that code as it has effect for the time being by virtue of any revision of the whole or any part of it approved under this section.
(7) The power of the Director under subsection (1)(b) to approve a code of practice issued or proposed to be issued otherwise than by him shall include power to approve a part of such a code and, accordingly, in this Ordinance code of practice (工作守則) may be read as including a part of such a code.
(8) The Director shall, before approving a code of practice under subsection (1) or any revision or proposed revision of the code under subsection (3), consult with—
(a) the Committee; and
(b) such other interested persons as he thinks fit.
(9) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that different codes of practice may be approved under subsection (1) for different classes of local vessels, and may be so approved for the same or different requirements referred to in that subsection.

### Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance 《商船(本地船隻)條例》

9. Use of approved codes of practice in proceedings under this Ordinance
(1) A failure on the part of any person to observe any provision of a code of practice approved under section 8 shall not of itself render the person liable to any civil or criminal proceedings but where in any proceedings under this Ordinance a person is alleged to have contravened a requirement under this Ordinance, being a requirement for which there was an approved code of practice at the time of the alleged contravention, subsection (2) shall have effect with respect to such code in relation to those proceedings.
(2) Any provision of a code of practice which appears to a specified body to be relevant to a requirement under this Ordinance alleged to have been contravened shall be admissible in evidence in the proceedings under this Ordinance concerned and if it is proved that there was at any material time a failure to observe any provision of the code which appears to that body to be relevant to any matter which it is necessary to prove in order to establish a contravention of such requirement, that matter shall be taken as proved in the absence of evidence that such requirement was in respect of that matter complied with otherwise than by way of observance of that provision.
(3) In any proceedings under this Ordinance, a code of practice which appears to a specified body to be the subject of a notice under section 8 shall be taken to be the subject of such notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
(4) In this section—
proceedings under this Ordinance (根據本條例進行的法律程序) includes any criminal proceedings where a person is alleged to have committed an offence by reason of a contravention of a requirement under this Ordinance;
specified body (指明當局) means—
(a) a magistrate;
(b) a court; or
(c) the Administrative Appeals Board.

10. Application
This Part shall not apply to any local vessel—
(a) which is a pleasure vessel—
(i) from a place outside Hong Kong; and
(ii) which does not remain in the waters of Hong Kong for more than 182 days out of 365 consecutive days;
(b) which is a vessel—
(i) used exclusively for pleasure purposes;
(ii) not fitted with an engine; and
(iii) in the opinion of the Director, incapable of being fitted with an engine,
including but not limited to a canoe, beach pleasure hire boat, windsurfer and dinghy; (Replaced 24 of 2005 s. 6)
(c) which is a licensed dwelling vessel;
(d) which has never been launched.

### Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance 《商船(本地船隻)條例》

11. Local vessel must be certificated
(1) Every local vessel shall be certificated.
(2) Where subsection (1) is contravened, the owner of the local vessel, his agent and the coxswain of the vessel commit an offence and each of them is liable on conviction to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 1 year.

12. Ownership of local vessel
(1) The owner of a local vessel shall be—
(a) an individual who holds a valid identity card and who is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong; or
(b) a company or registered non-Hong Kong company as defined by section 2(1) of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622). (Amended 30 of 2004 s. 3; 28 of 2012 ss. 912 & 920)
(2) The Director shall refuse to certificate a local vessel or to transfer its certificate of ownership to a new owner where the owner or transferee, as the case may be, is not a person referred to in subsection (1).

13. Certificated local vessel must be licensed
(1) Every certificated local vessel shall be licensed except that this subsection shall not apply during any period when the vessel is the subject of a written permission under section 66 which is in force. (Amended 24 of 2005 s. 7)
(2) Where subsection (1) is contravened, the owner of the local vessel, his agent and the coxswain commit an offence and each of them is liable on conviction to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 1 year.

14. Offences in relation to carrying of passengers
(1) No unlicensed local vessel shall carry any passenger.
(2) No licensed vessel shall carry any passenger unless the conditions of its operating licence permit the carriage of passengers.
(3) No licensed vessel shall carry more passengers and crew than may lawfully be carried under the conditions of its operating licence.
(4) If without reasonable excuse subsection (1) or (2) is contravened, the owner of the vessel, his agent and the coxswain commit an offence and each of them is liable on conviction to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 2 years, and to an additional fine at level 2 in respect of each passenger carried on the vessel in contravention of that subsection.
(5) If without reasonable excuse subsection (3) is contravened, the owner of the vessel, his agent and the coxswain commit an offence and each of them is liable on conviction to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 1 year, and to an additional fine at level 1 in respect of each person carried in excess of the number that may lawfully be carried.