The Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) has announced the enactment of the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Law (Law 23(I)/2017), which transposes the latest EU Marine Equipment Directive into national law.
The objective of the new Marine Equipment Directive is to enhance safety at sea and to prevent marine pollution through the uniform application of the relevant international instruments relating to marine equipment to be placed on board EU ships, and to ensure the free movement of such equipment within the EU, by introducing a simpler system for the transposition of EU legislation, strengthening the requirements for the notification and control of conformity assessment bodies and enhancing market surveillance.
The new Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Law covers equipment placed or to be placed on board a Cyprus ship, for which the approval of the DMS is required, regardless of whether the ship is situated within the EU at the time the equipment is installed.
The earlier Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Laws of 2002-2006 are repealed by the new law. However, article 38 of the new law provides that the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Order of 2016 and the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Notification of 2016 will remain in force until they are replaced by new subsidiary legislation issued under article 9 of the new law.
