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

112. Penalties under regulations
Save as otherwise provided, any regulations made under this Ordinance may provide that a contravention of specified provisions thereof shall be an offence and may prescribe penalties therefor not exceeding $20,000 and 2 years imprisonment.

112A. Power of Director to amend Schedules, prescribe specifications etc., issue instructions, directions or codes of practice and approve forms
(1) Any regulations made under this Ordinance may empower the Director to—
(a) amend any Schedule to the regulations;
(b) prescribe, by notice in the Gazette, specifications, standards or additional requirements for the purposes of such regulations;
(c) issue instructions, directions or codes of practice providing practical guidance with respect to specifications, standards or requirements prescribed by or under such regulations; or
(d) approve any forms required for the purposes of such regulations.
(2) Any instructions, directions or codes of practice referred to in subsection (1)(c) and any amendment thereof shall be published in such manner as may be specified in the regulations or, if not so specified, in such manner as the Director thinks fit; and such publication shall be notified in the Gazette together with advice as to where copies may be obtained.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c) the term Director (處長) in that subsection includes the Deputy Director of Marine.
(4) Any regulations made under this Ordinance and any notice or other instrument made or issued under such regulations may provide for the adoption, for the purposes of the regulations, of standards, specifications or codes of practice issued by The International Maritime Organization or other appropriate authority.
(Added 56 of 1990 s. 14)

112B. Supplementary regulation-making power in relation to international agreements applicable to Hong Kong
For the purposes of giving effect (whether in whole or in part) to any provisions of any international agreement applicable to Hong Kong (including the Convention and the Convention of 1966 referred to in Part IV)—
(a) as in force from time to time; and
(b) so far as the agreement relates to any matter for or in relation to which provision may be made by regulations made under this Ordinance,
any such regulations may—
(i) set out or refer directly to those provisions (whether in a Schedule or otherwise); and (Amended 10 of 2009 s. 31)
(ii) specify (whether in a Schedule or otherwise) amendments, modifications or adaptations subject to which those provisions shall have effect.
(Added 20 of 1996 s. 7)

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

113. Power of Secretary to give directions
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 32)(1) The Secretary may give to the Director and to any public officer such directions as he thinks fit, either generally or in any particular case, with respect to the performance or exercise of their respective duties or powers under this Ordinance.
(2) A person to whom a direction is given by the Secretary under subsection (1) shall, in the performance or exercise of his duties or powers under this Ordinance, comply with that direction.
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 32)

113A. Delegation by Director
(1) Subject to subsection (3), the Director may, either generally or in any particular case, delegate to any other public officer the performance or exercise on the Director’s behalf of any of the functions imposed or conferred on the Director under this Ordinance.
(2) If any function imposed or conferred on the Director under this Ordinance is performed or exercised by any other public officer, the Director is, unless the contrary is proved, regarded as having delegated to the public officer under subsection (1) the performance or exercise of the function.
(3) No delegation under subsection (1) is to be made of any power under this Ordinance to make subsidiary legislation.
(4) In this section—
functions (職能) includes powers and duties.
(Added 24 of 2023 s. 4)

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

114. Power to exempt
(1) The Director may exempt any ship or class of ships from any requirements of this Ordinance or any regulations made under this Ordinance, either absolutely or subject to such conditions as he thinks fit. (Amended 56 of 1990 s. 15)
(2) Where any exemption is conferred under subsection (1) subject to conditions, the exemption shall not have effect unless those conditions are complied with.
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), where a ship not normally engaged on international voyages is required to undertake a single international voyage, the Director may, if he is of the opinion that the ship complies with safety requirements that are adequate for that voyage, exempt the ship from any of the safety requirements imposed by or under this Ordinance. (Amended 56 of 1990 s. 15; 10 of 2009 s. 33)
(4) The Director may modify any requirement imposed by or under this Ordinance— (Amended 56 of 1990 s. 15)
(a) with regard to passenger ships plying on any international coasting voyage, if and to the extent that he is satisfied that the risks incurred by passenger ships plying on that voyage are such as to make it unreasonable or unnecessary to require ships so plying to comply with that requirement;
(b) with regard to ships for the time being engaged in any passenger trade in which they are employed in the carriage of large numbers of unberthed passengers, if he is satisfied that compliance with that requirement by ships so engaged is impracticable and to the extent that he is so satisfied that modifications are required by the conditions of the trade.

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

116. Obstruction
A person who—
(a) wilfully obstructs any person in the exercise of any power conferred on him by section 115; or
(b) without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement imposed in pursuance of section 115 or prevents another person from complying with such a requirement; or
(c) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (b), makes a statement or signs a declaration which he knows is false, or recklessly makes a statement or signs a declaration which is false, in purported compliance with a requirement made in pursuance of subsection (1)(i) of section 115,
commits an offence and shall be liable to a fine at level 3 and to imprisonment for 6 months.
(Amended E.R. 5 of 2021)

117. Power to detain
(1) A Government surveyor may inspect any ship for the purpose of seeing that it complies with this Ordinance or any regulations made thereunder; and if he finds that it does not comply with this Ordinance or regulations he shall give to the owner, agent or master notice in writing stating in what respect it fails to comply and what in his opinion is required to remedy the failure.
(2) Where a notice under subsection (1) has been given to the owner, agent or master of a ship, the ship shall be detained by the Director until a certificate by a Government surveyor is produced to the effect that the failure has been remedied.

118. Application of section 69
Where a ship is detained under any provision of this Ordinance (other than Part V) which provides for the detention of a ship until an event specified in that provision occurs, section 69 shall apply as if the ship had been detained under section 68.

119. Notice to be given to consular officer where proceedings taken in respect of ships not registered in Hong Kong
(Amended 10 of 2009 s. 35)Where any ship not registered in Hong Kong is detained under this Ordinance, and where any proceedings are taken under this Ordinance against the owner, agent or master of any such ship, notice shall forthwith be served on the consular officer for the country to which the ship belongs, and such notice shall specify the grounds on which the ship has been detained or the proceedings have been taken.
(Amended 23 of 1998 s. 2)

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

119A. Time limit for criminal proceedings
Notwithstanding anything in the Magistrates Ordinance (Cap. 227) an information or complaint relating to an offence under this Ordinance or any regulations made under this Ordinance which has been committed outside Hong Kong may be laid or made at any time within 2 years from the commission of the offence.
(Added 56 of 1990 s. 16)