Thông tư 30/2016/TT-BGTVT

CIRCULAR

ON THE PROCEDURE FOR VALIDATION OF THE FILING OF SEA PROTESTS

Pursuant to Vietnam Maritime Law dated November 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 107/2012/ND-CP dated December 20, 2012 on the functions, missions, authority and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

At the request of the Head of the Department of Legislation and the Head of the Vietnam Maritime Administration;

Minister of Transport promulgates the Circular on the procedure for submission and validation of sea protests.

Chapter I

GENERAL

Article 1. Scope

This Circular stipulates the procedure for validation of the filing of sea protests for maritime vessels, ships on official assignment, movable sea platforms, submarines, submersibles, inland watercraft, seaplanes and fishing vessels operating in marine port waters and marine waters of Vietnam and on international routes (hereinafter referred to as the vessels).

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals in relation to the filing and validation thereof of seas protests for the vessels operating in the marine port waters and marine waters of Vietnam and on international routes.

Article 3. Primary content of sea protest

A sea protest consists of primary details below:

1. Full name and the number, date and place of issue of the identity card or citizen identification card or passport of the shipmaster.

2. Details of the vessel: name, port (place) of registration, registration number, port of destination (port of departure, transshipment port), gross tonnage, nationality, IMO number (if existing).

3. Quantity, type and packaging (in bulk/ in bag) of cargo aboard the vessel (if any).

4. Time and location of the incident.

5. Weather conditions upon the occurrence of the incident.

6. Delineation of the incident.

7. Losses or doubts over probable losses caused by the incident (if any).

8. Measures exercised to overcome the incident and minimize losses caused by the incident (if any).

9. Other information related to the incident (if any).

10. The list of attached documents is defined in Article 5 of this Circular.

Chapter II

PROCEDURE FOR VALIDATION OF THE FILING OF SEA PROTESTS

Article 4. Agencies that validate the filing of sea protests

1. Government authorities competent to validate the filing of sea protests in Vietnam shall be the nearest local maritime administrations or their representatives or communal People’s Committees.

2. Government authorities competent to validate the filing of sea protests overseas shall be the nearest representative agencies of Vietnam or the competent bodies and organizations of the country where the vessels operate.

Article 5. Documents for validation of the filing of sea protests

1. The following documents shall be required for maritime vessels, ships on official assignment, movable sea platforms, submarines, submersibles, airplanes and inland watercraft classified under VR-SB:

a) The statement of sea protest (02 originals);

b) The copy of ship's logbooks in connection with the incident (01 copy);

c) The copy of the nautical chart related to the incident (except the incident that occurred upon the vessel's mooring at a sea port) (01 copy).

2. The following documents shall be required for inland watercraft (except those classified under VR-SB) and fishing vessels:

a) The sea protest (02 copies);

b) The copy of ship’s logbooks in connection with the incident (01 copy, if available);

c) The copy of the self-elaborated diagram of the location where the incident occurred with photographs (01 copy, if available).

3. The following must be presented:

For maritime vessels, ships on official assignment, movable sea platforms, submarines, submersibles, airplanes and inland watercraft classified under VR-SB: the originals of the logbooks related to the incident.

4. The documents specified in Section 1 and Section 2 of this Article must bear the signature of the shipmaster and the vessel's seal (if available). Apart from the shipmaster's signature and the vessel's seal (if available), astatement of sea protest must bear the signature of the chief engineer, an officer or a sailor as the witness.

5. Apart from the quantity of sea protest statements specified in Point a, Section 1 and Point a, Section 2 of this Article, the shipmaster may request the validation of more identical copies, if deemed necessary.

Article 6. Progress for validation of the filing of sea protests

1. The shipmaster prepares and manually submit the documents specified in Article 5 of this Circular to an authority competent to validate the filing of the sea protest according to Section 1, Article 4 and to an overseas representative agency of Vietnam according to Section 2, Article 4 of this Circular.

2. The competent authority takes in the application and verifies its validity. The competent authority shall guide the shipmaster to complete the application, if invalid, in no more than 30 minutes after the former's receipt of the application as per regulations.

3. Local maritime administrations or their representatives, in at most 01 hour, and other competent authorities, in at most 03 hours, shall validate the filing of a sea protest upon their receipt of the full and valid application.

4. The authority validating the filing of the sea protest shall retain 01 set of the documents specified in Section 1 and Section 2, Article 5 of this Circular and return other validated copies of the sea protest statement to the shipmaster.

Article 7. Content of validation of the filing of sea protests

1. Date and time of receipt of the sea protest.

2. Confirmation of the receipt of the sea protest.

3. Full name, title and signature of the person validating the filing of the sea protest.

4. Sealing of the authority validating the filing of the sea protest.

Article 8. Fee for validation of the filing of sea protests

The authorities competent to validate the filing of sea protests shall collect fee(s) for such validation as per the Ministry of Finance's regulations.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 9. Effect

This Circular comes into force as of July 01, 2017 and replaces the Decision No. 41/2005/QD-BGTVT dated September 16, 2005 by the Minister of Transport on the procedure for validation of the filing of sea protests in Vietnam.

Article 10. Responsibility for implementation

Chief of the Office of the Ministry, Chief inspector of the Ministry, Heads of Departments, Head of Vietnam Maritime Administration, Heads of organizations and individuals concerned shall be responsible for implementing this Circular./.