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

86. Regulations relating to wages and accounts
The Secretary for Transport and Logistics may make regulations for all or any of the following matters— (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; L.N. 144 of 2022)
(a) authorizing deductions to be made from the wages due to a seafarer under a crew agreement (in addition to any authorized by any provision of this Ordinance or of any other enactment) in cases where a breach of his obligations under the agreement is alleged against him and such conditions, if any, as are specified in the regulations are complied with, or in such other cases as are specified in the regulations;
(b) regulating the manner in which any amounts deducted under the regulations are to be dealt with;
(c) prescribing the manner in which wages due to a seafarer under a crew agreement are to be or may be paid;
(d) regulating the manner in which such wages are to be dealt with and accounted for in circumstances where a seafarer leaves his ship in Hong Kong otherwise than on being discharged therefrom; and
(e) prescribing the form and manner in which any account required to be delivered by section 85 is to be prepared and the particulars to be contained therein (which may include estimated amounts).

87. Power of Superintendent to decide disputes about wages
(1) Any dispute relating to the amount payable to a seafarer employed under a crew agreement may be submitted by the parties to the Superintendent for decision, but the Superintendent shall not be bound to accept the submission or, if he has accepted it, to decide the dispute, if he is of opinion that the dispute, whether by reason of the amount involved or for any other reason, ought not to be decided by him.
(2) The decision of the Superintendent on a dispute submitted to him under this section shall be final.

88. Power of court to award interest on wages due otherwise than under crew agreement
In any proceedings by a person employed in a ship otherwise than under a crew agreement for the recovery of any sum due to him as wages the court, unless it appears to it that the delay in paying the sum was due to a mistake, to a reasonable dispute as to liability or to the act or default of the person claiming the amount or to any other cause, not being the wrongful act or default of the persons liable to make the payment or their servants or agents, may order them to pay, in addition to the sum due, interest on it at the rate of 20% per annum or such lower rate as the court specifies, for the period beginning 7 days after the sum became due and ending when the sum is paid.
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 52)

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

89. Allotment notes
(1) Subject to this section, a seafarer may, by means of an allotment note issued in accordance with regulations made under this section by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, allot to any person or persons all or a part of the wages to which he will become entitled in the course of his employment in a Hong Kong ship or Hong Kong ships. (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; 16 of 2013 s. 53)
(2) A seafarer’s right to make an allotment under this section shall be subject to such limitations as may, by virtue of the following provisions of this section, be imposed by regulations made by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics. (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007)
(3) Regulations made by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics for the purposes of this section may prescribe the form of allotment notes and— (Amended L.N. 106 of 2002; L.N. 130 of 2007; L.N. 144 of 2022)
(a) may limit the circumstances in which allotments may be made;
(b) may limit (whether by reference to an amount or by reference to a proportion) the part of the wages that may be allotted and the number of persons to whom it may be allotted and may prescribe the method by which that part is to be calculated;
(c) may limit the persons to whom allotments may be made by a seafarer to persons of such descriptions or persons standing to him in such relationships as may be prescribed by the regulations; and
(d) may prescribe the times and the intervals at which payments under allotment notes are to be made.
(Amended L.N. 144 of 2022)

90. Right of person named in allotment note to sue in own name
(1) A person to whom all or a part of a seafarer’s wages has been allotted by an allotment note issued in accordance with regulations made under section 89 shall have the right to recover the allotted wages in his own name and for that purpose shall have the same remedies as the seafarer has for the recovery of his wages.
(2) In any proceedings brought by a person named in such an allotment note as the person to whom all or a part of a seafarer’s wages has been allotted, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is shown, that the seafarer is entitled to the wages specified in the note and that the allotment has not been varied or cancelled.
(Amended 16 of 2013 s. 54)

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

91. Right, or loss of right, to wages in certain circumstances
(1) Where a Hong Kong ship is wrecked or lost and a seafarer whose employment in the ship is thereby terminated, or a seafarer’s employment in a Hong Kong ship is terminated other than for disciplinary reasons, before the date contemplated in the crew agreement under which he is so employed he shall, subject to this section, be entitled to wages at the rate payable under that agreement at the date of the wreck, loss or termination of employment other than for disciplinary reasons, for every day on which he is unemployed in the 2 months following that date.
(2) Where a Hong Kong ship is sold or ceases to be a Hong Kong ship and a seafarer’s employment in the ship is thereby terminated before the date contemplated in the crew agreement under which he is so employed, then he shall, subject to this section, be entitled to wages at the rate payable under that agreement at the date on which his employment is terminated for every day on which he is unemployed in the 2 months following that date.
(3) A seafarer shall not be entitled to wages by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) for a day on which he was unemployed, if it is shown—
(a) that the unemployment was not due to the wreck or loss of the ship, or termination of employment other than for disciplinary reasons or, as the case may be, the termination of his employment on the sale of the ship or its ceasing to be a Hong Kong ship; or
(b) that the seafarer was able to obtain suitable employment for that day but unreasonably refused or failed to take it.

92. Certificate of discharge to be delivered to seafarer discharged in Hong Kong
(1) If a seafarer employed in a ship is discharged from the ship before the Superintendent in Hong Kong, the master of the ship or the seafarer’s employer must sign and deliver to the seafarer a written certificate of discharge.
(2) The certificate of discharge—
(a) must be delivered to the seafarer at the time of discharge; and
(b) must specify—
(i) the date of commencement of employment, and the date of discharge, of the seafarer; and
(ii) the capacity and rank in which the seafarer was employed.
(Replaced 16 of 2013 s. 55)