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

106. Recovery of expenses incurred for repatriation
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 64)(1) Where any expenses are incurred in respect of any matter for which the employer of a seafarer is required to make provision by the regulations made under section 104, then— (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 64)
(a) if the expenses are incurred by the Government, or are incurred by the government of any place outside Hong Kong and repaid to such government on behalf of the Government— (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 64)
(i) the Government may recover the expenses from the employer as a civil debt; and
(ii) the Government may detain any ship of the employer until the expenses have been repaid to the Government; and (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 64)
(b) if the expenses are incurred by the seafarer, he may recover them from the employer as a civil debt unless the employer proves either that under the terms of the seafarer’s employment they were to be borne by the seafarer or that he would not have been left behind but for his own wrongful act or neglect.
(2) Where, in the case of any seafarer, expenses are incurred by the Government or are incurred by the government of any place outside Hong Kong and repaid to such government on behalf of the Government—
(a) in respect of any matter for which, but for the exceptions set out in the regulations made under section 104, the seafarer’s employer would have been required to make provision by those regulations; or
(b) in respect of any matter for which provision is required to be made by the Superintendent by the regulations made under section 104(1)(d)(ii),
the Government may recover them from the seafarer (or, if he has died, from his personal representatives) as a civil debt. (Amended 16 of 2013 s. 64)

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

107. Disciplinary offences
(1) For the purpose of maintaining discipline on board Hong Kong ships, the Secretary for Transport and Logistics may make regulations specifying any misconduct on board a Hong Kong ship as a disciplinary offence and enabling the master of the ship, or such officer as may under such regulations be required or authorized to exercise the powers of the master, to impose fines on seafarers committing such disciplinary offences. (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; L.N. 144 of 2022)
(2) A fine referred to in subsection (1) that may be imposed on a seafarer for a disciplinary offence shall be such as may be provided in the regulations made under this section by reference to his pay for such period as is specified in the regulations, calculated in such manner as is so specified, but, in any case, the period so specified shall not exceed 5 days.
(3) Regulations made under this section shall prescribe the procedure to be followed in dealing with disciplinary offences.
(4) Regulations made under this section shall enable the master of a ship to remit, in such circumstances as is specified in the regulations, the whole or part of any fine imposed thereunder.
(5) Regulations made under this section may provide for a seafarer who has committed a disciplinary offence to make a complaint to the Superintendent and for the Superintendent to deal with that complaint in such manner as is specified in the regulations.
(6) In this section, seafarer (海員) does not include an officer.

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

108. Payment of fines for disciplinary offences
(1) The amount of a fine imposed on a seafarer for a disciplinary offence, so far as not remitted by the master of the ship concerned, may be deducted from his wages or otherwise recovered by his employer and shall be paid by his employer (whether or not it has been so deducted or otherwise recovered) to the Superintendent.
(2) Where the wages or part of the wages of a seafarer on whom a fine is imposed for a disciplinary offence are paid by the master of the ship concerned on behalf of the seafarer’s employer or where the master is the employer of the seafarer, the amount referred to in subsection (1) of the fine shall be paid at the time when the seafarer leaves the ship at the end of the voyage or, if earlier, when his employment in the ship is terminated; and, in any other case, the master of the ship concerned shall at that time notify such amount to the seafarer’s employer and the employer shall pay it when the next payment in respect of the seafarer’s wages falls to be made by the employer.
(3) Any amount paid under this section to the Superintendent shall be transmitted by him to the Government and any amount required to be so paid but remaining unpaid shall be recoverable by the Government as a civil debt.
(4) Where the master of a ship or an employer fails without reasonable cause to pay any fine as required by this section, he shall for each offence be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 6 times the amount of the fine not so paid.

109. Civil liability for smuggling
Where a seafarer employed in a Hong Kong ship is found in civil proceedings before a court in Hong Kong to have committed an act of smuggling, whether within or outside Hong Kong, he shall be liable to make good any loss or expense that the act has caused to any other person.

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

110. Civil liability for fines imposed under immigration laws
(1) This section shall apply where, at a time when a Hong Kong ship is in the national or territorial waters of any place outside Hong Kong, a seafarer employed in the ship is absent without leave and present in that place in contravention of that place’s law.
(2) Where, by reason of a contravention referred to in subsection (1) by a seafarer, a penalty is incurred under the laws of the place where that contravention occurred by the employer of the seafarer, the penalty shall be treated as being attributable to the seafarer’s absence without leave and may, unless the seafarer proves that his absence was due to an accident or mistake beyond his control and that he took all reasonable precautions to avoid being absent, be recovered from the seafarer as special damages for breach of contract.
(3) Where, by reason of a contravention referred to in subsection (1) by a seafarer, a penalty is incurred under the laws of the place where that contravention occurred by any other person, the amount of such penalty, or, if that amount exceeds $20,000, $20,000 may be recovered by that person from the seafarer.

111. Interpretation
In this Part, certificate (證書) means a certificate of competency or of service issued or deemed to be issued under regulations made under section 73.